• A teacher took a student to a car park and sexually assaulted her
• He tried to get her to perform a sex act on him but she refused
• The victim has suffered psychological harm and has flashbacks of the assault, the court heard
• The teacher has since resigned from the job and works part-time 

SINGAPORE — A secondary school teacher persisted in getting to know a female student half his age, getting her beverages and meeting her near her home to chat.

One afternoon, he took her to a car park and sexually assaulted her, telling her to keep silent about what happened.

On Tuesday (Nov 24), the 33-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual penetration of a minor and committing an indecent act with a young person.

District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam will consider another three similar charges when sentencing him on Thursday.

The teacher cannot be named due to a court order to protect the identity of the victim, who was then 15 years old and a Secondary 4 student.

The man taught English and Literature at the secondary school she attended in Singapore’s eastern region, but has since resigned as a teacher, his lawyer said. The school also cannot be named.

HOW IT BEGAN

Court documents showed that in 2015, the teacher had shown a different girl, also aged 15, an obscene video and touched the girl's thigh and crotch. They were in a car at a Tampines multi-storey car park.

No other details were given regarding this incident.

Then in late 2016, he began to send phone text messages to another 15-year-old girl.

In early 2017, the two began communicating over messaging platform Telegram and social media application Snapchat. He also invited her to join the school’s debate team, of which he was in charge, but she declined his invitation.

On Feb 17 that year, he bought her a Starbucks coffee and they chatted at the school canteen for about 30 minutes. He asked her, among other things, about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

Five days later, he asked her and her female classmate in a Telegram chat group if either of them were free and wanted to meet.

The victim replied that she was free, while her classmate did not respond. He told the victim to meet him at the void deck of the block of flats where she lived. They chatted for an hour there.

COMPLIMENTED HER ON HER LOOKS

Three days later, on a Saturday, he again asked if she wanted to meet. He told her not to tell anyone when she agreed to go for a ride with him.

He picked her up later that evening and complimented her on her looks, before driving her to a block of flats along Tampines Street 34.

He stopped at an open-air car park and suggested that they remain in the car as there was air-conditioning.

As she busied herself with her mobile phone, he leaned over and began touching her thigh and neck, asking if she trusted him.

Not knowing what to say, she replied that she did. He then began kissing her neck and groped her under her clothes.

When he sexually assaulted her, she grabbed his wrist and he asked her if she liked it. She said no.

He told her to imagine that he was her ex-boyfriend before continuing to kiss her and trying to make her perform a sex act on him.

She refused and pulled her hand away, saying that she felt uncomfortable.

He drove them to a nearby multi-storey car park and parked at the second-highest storey. He tried to kiss her once more but she pulled away.

They then got food at a nearby McDonald’s outlet and spent some time in the Marina Bay area before he drove her home. He told her not to tell anyone what had happened.

When she got home, she blocked him on various mobile apps.

The following Monday, she confided in a few close friends about the assault.

Staff members of the school's management eventually came to know what happened. They visited her home on March 2, 2017 when she stopped going to school, and took her to the Tampines Neighbourhood Police Centre that afternoon to make a police report.

‘VERY POPULAR TEACHER’

Seeking four years’ jail, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chew said that the teacher “gravely fell short” not just of the law but also the Ministry of Education’s stipulated code of conduct.

The prosecutor said that the victim suffered psychological harm. She felt like she could not trust people she had just met and that she should not go to school in order to avoid him.

She also felt scared when she saw people waiting at the void deck.

DPP Chew added that the victim suffers from flashbacks of the incident.

The teacher’s lawyer, Mr Edmond Pereira, said in mitigation that he was a “very popular teacher” and frequently met students in the school courtyard, which was how he met the victim. He did not directly teach her at the time.

He is now working part-time and has not been able to get a permanent job due to the case, the lawyer said, but did not specify the nature of the part-time work.

“He accepts his conduct is inappropriate and unacceptable. He has no history of paedophilic or paraphilic or deviant behaviour, and his chance of reoffending is extremely low,” Mr Pereira added.

For sexual penetration of a minor, the teacher could be jailed up to 10 years or fined, or both.

For committing an indecent act, he could be jailed up to five years or fined up to S$10,000, or both.

In response to TODAY's queries, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Tuesday that the man had not been under its employment since September 2018.

"MOE takes a serious view of staff misconduct and will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to our standards of conduct and discipline, including dismissal from service."