Female teacher asked underage male student to perform sex acts, filmed them in bed at Geylang hotel

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
June 10, 2019

A secondary school teacher, who became romantically involved with her 15-year-old student, told the minor to perform sexual acts on her.

On one occasion, she recorded a video of them in bed in a Geylang hotel room.

That was three years ago.

Now 29, she was sentenced on Monday (June 10) by District Judge Christopher Tan to two years and nine months' in jail.

The woman, who taught in a school in the northwestern part of Singapore, pleaded guilty to two counts each of offences under the Children and Young Persons Act as well as sexual penetration acts involving a minor.

Five other charges involving the same boy were considered during sentencing.

She cannot be named as a gag order has been imposed to protect the teenager's identity.

The woman, who is no longer teaching in any school, had been suspended since February 2017.

The pair first encountered each other in 2014 when she taught his class mathematics, but he disliked the subject.

She stopped teaching his class in 2016.

However, in March that year, they became close after she accompanied his uniformed group on a camping trip.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Poon said: "They grew closer and began texting and speaking more, with the accused eventually telling the victim that she had feelings for him.

"The victim had also told her that he 'liked her'. They entered a romantic relationship around September 2016."

The court heard that they would go jogging and "engage in physical intimacy" at reservoirs and parks. They would also exchange sexually explicit text messages.

In late November 2016, the boy lied to his mother he was attending a camp with his uniformed group when he was actually staying at the Super 8 Hotel in Geylang with the teacher from Nov 28 to Dec 2 that year.

The mother found out about their relationship when she uncovered letters folded into heart shapes in her son's bag.

She also found motor vehicle registration papers in the teacher's name, a condominium access card and her car key. The teacher had asked the boy to start her car while she was on holiday.

The mother, who is 46, also noted from the documents that the teacher was about 11 years older than her son. Soon after, the teenager asked his mother if she would consider marrying someone 11 years older than her.

Sensing something was amiss, the mother alerted the school and the teacher was arrested after the police interviewed her on Feb 16, 2017.

On Monday, DPP Poon urged the judge to sentence the teacher to at least two years and 10 months' in jail.

She said: "As the victim's teacher, the accused was further supposed to play the role of nurturer and educator, and to watch out for the victim's welfare. Instead, she exerted a morally corrupting influence on the victim."

The Education Ministry, responding to The Straits Times, said it "will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to (its) standards of conduct and discipline, including dismissal from service".

The teacher is out on a $15,000 bail and was ordered to surrender herself at the State Courts on June 24 to begin her jail term.

Those convicted of sexual penetration offences involving a minor below age 16 can be jailed up to 10 years and fined for each charge.