• A teacher first tutored a girl when she was in primary school
• He contacted her again on Instagram two years after she stopped classes with him
• He took her to secluded areas and invited her to his home
• There, he sexually violated her 

SINGAPORE — He reconnected with his former tuition student over Instagram, exchanging sexually charged text messages with her.

The teacher, who was married, then kissed the 14-year-old in his car after driving her to a secluded area. He later invited her to his home and performed more indecent acts on her.

She eventually began having suicidal thoughts and tried to kill herself, feeling depressed about what he had done to her.

The Singaporean man, 38, was jailed for eight months on Tuesday (May 25) after pleading guilty to two counts of performing an indecent act on a young person. A third such charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.

He was working as a primary school teacher and a freelance tuition teacher, giving mathematics and science lessons, at the time of his offences in 2019.

He cannot be named due to a court order to protect the identity of the victim, now aged 16.

He had tutored her in Primary 5 and 6 but her parents stopped the lessons by the middle of 2016, when she was set to take her Primary School Leaving Examination, after her grades started to fall.

AFRAID TO REPORT HIM

The teacher got in touch with the student again through Instagram two years later, when she was in Secondary 2. They then continued keeping in contact through WhatsApp.

In February 2019, after she entered Secondary 3, she posted on Instagram about preparing appreciation cards for her schoolmates during her school appreciation day.

He saw her post and sent her a message asking for a card.

After she said that she could make him one, he drove to her school a few days later, picked up the card and offered to drive her home.

They continued to send each other text messages regularly. Some of them were sexually charged, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) M Kayal Pillay told the court.

The man soon admitted to the girl that he had feelings for her. While she wanted to reject his overtures, she made it seem as if she shared his sentiments as she was afraid he would react badly.

They met about once a week, either at secluded areas or at his home when his wife was away. They would cuddle and he also offered to drive her home.

In April 2019, he picked her up from school before stopping his car along Upper Thomson Road. He then kissed her on the lips, to which she did not consent.

In June that year, he invited her to his home to celebrate her birthday. As they watched a movie on the sofa, he lay on top of her and molested her after she initially tried to resist.

She did not want to report his acts as she was embarrassed that others would find out and “people would laugh and spread rumours about her”, DPP Pillay said.

Soon, on June 27, she self-harmed after having suicidal thoughts. She passed out and her father took her to the hospital.

She revealed what had happened only in August 2019 when she went to a psychologist to get help for her depression.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a Ministry of Education spokesman said the teacher has been suspended from duty since August 2019 when she sought help and the police began their investigations.

“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,” the spokesman added.

'HE WAS TRYING TO HELP HER'

In mitigation, his lawyer Adrian Wee argued that his client had reached out to the girl to try to help and not for any sinister purpose, as she had detailed some difficulties she was facing.

The teacher had also been “undergoing personal struggles at the time”, though this was not an attempt to explain his actions or reduce his culpability, the defence counsel said.

Mr Wee added: “Unfortunately, there is no cushioning this. It was a situation where one, I suppose, inadequate person was trying to help another inadequate person. As a result, he developed these inappropriate feelings and behaved in an inappropriate way.

“He fully accepts this… It was not uncommon for him to have contacted and gone above and beyond with his students, even outside of the school setting.”

Mr Wee said that the typical elements of coercion or abuse of trust were not present, as he committed the offences two years after tutoring the girl.

When questioned by District Judge Jasvender Kaur on how the victim is doing now, DPP Pillay responded that she “seems to be doing better” but it was a case of “better realising the consequences of what happened as she grew older”.

The judge then agreed with DPP Pillay’s sentencing submissions and jailed the teacher as he audibly cried while in the dock.

He could have been jailed for up to five years or fined up to S$10,000, or both.

WHERE YOU MAY GET HELP

Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-221-4444 (24 hours)

Singapore Association of Mental Health: 1800-283-7019 (Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm)

Emergency Helpline (Institute of Mental Health): 6389 2222 (24 hours)

Care Corner Counselling Centre (Mandarin): 1800-353-5800 (10am-10pm)

Tinkle Friend: 1800-274-4788 (Mon-Fri, 9.30am-5pm)