SINGAPORE: A 46-year-old man admitted in court on Monday (Nov 9) to committing indecent acts against his secondary school student almost a decade ago when he was her history teacher.
The victim was 15 at the time of the offences in 2011. She revealed the offences to another person in 2018, and the school was alerted to it, with the principal lodging a police report on her behalf.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAll parties, along with the school, cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, who is now 24.
The court heard that the accused first met the victim in 2010, when he taught her class history.
Later in the year, they began talking to each other about their personal lives and met up for coffee both in school and outside school.
They entered a relationship in February 2011, holding hands when they were alone in school, the court heard.
AdvertisementAdvertisementBetween March and May that year, the man was alone with the victim in a room on the school premises when he pressed her against a wall and said: “I can do anything now.”
The victim felt confused and embarrassed but did not react. In that same period, the man also committed another indecent act on the victim on campus.
They kept in contact and met up during the June holidays in 2011, but after school reopened, he told the teen that their relationship was over.
He did not make further advances against her, court documents said, and they kept in contact even after she left the school.
AdvertisementIn January 2014, the victim returned to the school as the accused had arranged for her to do relief teaching there.
During her stint, she showed signs of an eating disorder and was accompanied by the accused and another person to a hospital. She stopped contacting him in November 2016.
The teacher left the school in December 2016 and began work elsewhere, at a location not named in court documents.
In August 2018, the victim told a person not named in court documents about her previous relationship with the accused.
The matter was flagged to the school and escalated to the principal, who filed a police report.
The man was set for a trial on Monday, but pleaded guilty instead to two charges of committing an indecent act on a young person, with another two similar charges taken into consideration.
He will be sentenced at a later date. For each charge, he could be given up to two years’ jail, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
CNA has contacted the Ministry of Education for more information.
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