Paedophile teacher who paid male student to perform sex acts and abused 3 others, jailed 6.5 years
SINGAPORE — A secondary school teacher who sexually abused and exploited four male students was jailed six years and six months on Monday (22 April).
The married 36-year-old man also had repeated paid sexual encounters with his first victim for over a year.
His actions were discovered when he molested a 13-year-old boy after failing to persuade the student to visit his home. After a police report was made, further investigations brought to light the man’s offences against the other three victims, aged 13 to 15. Neither the man nor his victims can be named due to a court-imposed gag order.
Appearing in the State Courts, the man admitted to nine charges for offences including sexually exploiting the boys, sexual penetration of a minor and molest. Another 19 charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration for his sentencing, while 10 charges were withdrawn.
According to an Institute of Mental Health report, the man was diagnosed with paedophilia and was found to be at moderate risk of reoffending, especially if placed in a position of authority over children.
Paid sexual encounters
The man’s first victim was a Secondary 2 student whom the former had taught a year earlier.
On 9 May 2016, the boy was given detention for sending pornographic images to his class group chat. When the man spotted the boy in the detention room, he asked what the boy what had happened.
Upon hearing the boy’s explanation, the man then asked the boy if he wanted to watch pornography together at his flat. The boy initially refused, but agreed after the teacher said he would not tell anyone about it.
The boy then demanded a payment of $50 in order to keep quiet about the incident, which the man agreed to.
The next day, the boy visited the teacher’s flat after school. They watched pornography together and teacher performed oral sex on the boy, for which the latter was paid.
This arrangement continued for one and a half years, with the teacher paying the boy between $50 and $300 on each occasion. The last incident took place at the end of August 2017.
Invited second victim to play video games
In July 2016, the teacher approached a Secondary 2 student from the same school after spotting him along the corridor. The teacher asked the boy if he wanted visit his home to play video games.
While he initially declined the invitation, the boy agreed after the teacher asked him a second time. They then headed to the teacher’s flat where they played video games in his bedroom.
In the midst of the game, the teacher placed the boy onto his lap and did a thrusting motion against the boy’s buttocks. The boy felt uncomfortable and stood up. He then left the man’s home.
In July 2017, the teacher preyed on another boy, who was also not his student. The boy, who was in Secondary 3 at the time, had received a text message from the man who asked to meet the boy the following day.
When they met, the man requested that the boy to visit his flat. The boy then asked the teacher the reason for the invitation, but was told that he would find out later.
The duo then took a taxi to the man’s flat, where he made the boy perform oral sex on him. The man also performed oral sex on the boy. They repeated the same acts in the teacher’s flat a few days later.
Repeatedly pestered fourth victim
On 29 August 2017, the man approached another student while the latter was leaving the school’s computer lab. The man had asked the boy to visit his home on two previous occasions but was turned down.
This time, the boy felt the man poke his buttocks five times as he walked away after rejecting the man’s invitation yet again. The boy quickly rejoined his classmates in another room where they continued the lesson.
After the lesson, the teacher dismissed the rest of the class and asked the boy to stay behind. He again asked the boy if he wanted to visit his home, but was rebuffed.
The boy also rejected the man’s request to meet him at the school’s back gate. Feeling afraid, the boy quickly left to take a bus home after school. Along the way, he received messages from the man asking him not to go home, but go to the man’s flat instead. The man also offered to pick the boy up from where he was.
The boy later told a female classmate about the man’s messages and the molest, and was advised to tell his parents. The following day, the boy sought the same classmate’s help in reporting the incident to their form teacher, who then informed the boy’s parents about the matter.
A police report against the man was then lodged on 1 September 2017.
Accused abused position of authority: DPP
Asking for a jail term of at least six years and six months’, the prosecution pointed out that the man had exploited his position of authority.
For the molest victim, not only had the teacher “taken advantage of curriculum time to satisfy his sexual urges”, he had molested the boy within the confines of a classroom when the boy was isolated from his classmates.
Regarding the boy in the detention room, Deputy Public Prosecutor Amanda Han said the man had “merely led him further down the path of moral corruption in a bid to attain his own sexual gratification” instead of counselling the boy and “encouraging him to reform”.
The man’s lawyer, Chua Eng Hui, said that his client was remorseful over his actions and had cooperated fully with investigations. Pointing out that two of the victims had not been coerced or pressured into performing sexual acts, he asked for the man’s sentence to be capped at six years’ jail.
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