SINGAPORE: A 36-year-old teacher was jailed for six years and six months on Monday (Apr 22) for sex acts he committed with three students at his home, and for molesting a fourth in school.

The teacher, who cannot be named in order to protect the identities of the four boys aged between 13 and 15 at the time, worked at a school in northern Singapore, the court heard.



The subject he taught was also redacted from court documents.

The married man, who was diagnosed with paedophilia after his arrest, preyed on the boys between 2016 and 2017, until one of them lodged a police report.



He began with a 14-year-old boy in May 2016, who had been sent for detention over using his phone to circulate pornographic photos in his class's WhatsApp group.

When the teacher found out the reason for his detention, he asked the younger boy if he wanted to watch pornography together with him.



The teenager refused at first, but eventually agreed after the teacher said he would not tell anyone about it. The boy in turn asked for S$50 not to tell anyone about the invitation, and the older man agreed.

The next day, the teenager went to the teacher's maisonette flat, where they watched porn together in the man's bedroom.

The teacher performed a sex act on the teenager, before giving him the money.

They continued to meet after this up to August 2017, with the teenager asking for sums of money ranging from S$50 to S$300 before he went over to the flat.

TEACHER TOOK BOY HOME TO "PLAY GAMES"

Shortly after he began meeting this boy, the teacher turned his attentions to a younger student.

He spotted the 13-year-old in a corridor of the school in July 2016 and asked the boy to go to his home to play games with him.

Although the boy initially said he would consider it, he later agreed when the teacher approached him after school.

They went to the teacher's flat, where they played on a Wii console in his bedroom.

During the game, the teacher placed the boy in his lap and moved against him. The boy felt uncomfortable and stood up.

In July 2017, the teacher began focusing his attention on another boy, who was 15. Although he had not taught this boy, he managed to get his mobile number and texted him, asking to meet after school.

He took a taxi with the boy to his maisonette, where he made the boy perform a sex act on him and reciprocated. They met again on at least two other occasions.

His offences came to light a month later, when he targeted another 13-year-old student.

FRIGHTENED BOY REJECTS ADVANCES REPEATEDLY

The boy had gone to a computer lab for a lesson with the teacher on the morning of Aug 29.

He stayed behind as he had had trouble logging into his computer and was eventually the last person left in the room with the teacher.

After finishing his work, the boy balanced his laptop on his arms and walked towards the door. The teacher asked if he wanted to go to his house, but the boy refused and continued walking.

He then felt the teacher poke him five times in the buttocks with his finger.

Feeling scared and not daring to ask his teacher why he had done that, the boy asked the older man to help open the door for him, before quickly leaving to join his classmates in another room.

The teacher gave a lesson to the class, dismissing them at the end but asking the boy to stay behind. He asked the boy once more if he wanted to go to his house, but the boy refused and quickly left the room.

The paedophile persisted and asked the boy to go to the back gate of the school with him after classes had ended for the day.

The boy asked him why he wanted him to go there, but the teacher refused to answer, later asking him instead to wait at the bus stop so they could go to the teacher's house together.

Feeling scared, the boy left hurriedly on a bus to his own home. While on the bus, he received messages from an unknown number that he found out from a classmate belonged to the teacher.

The boy later passed information about what happened to his form teacher, who told his parents, who took their son to lodge a police report.

The teacher later admitted that he had invited the boy to his home as he wanted to touch him and possibly engage in a sex act with him.

He was arrested and the crimes he committed on the other three victims came to light.

DIAGNOSED PAEDOPHILE WILL NEVER TEACH AGAIN: DEFENCE

An Institute of Mental Health report said the teacher was a diagnosed paedophile, characterised by his recurrent sexual preference for children in early puberty, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Amanda Han.

"It further stated that he has a moderate risk of re-offending, especially if he is in a position of authority over children," she said.

In response, the teacher's defence lawyer Chua Eng Hui said his client's risk of re-offending was low as "he will never be allowed to teach again".

His client pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual penetration of a minor, one count of outraging a person's modesty and another of sexual exploitation of a young person, with another 19 charges taken into consideration.

The prosecution had asked for a sentence of six years and six months' jail, saying that the teacher was in a position of authority and had taken advantage of curriculum time to satisfy his sexual urges, in the case of the boy in the computer lab.

He had persisted in inviting the boy to his home and had a consistent modus operandi with the other boys, agreeing to pay one of them and actively seeking out another boy's phone number.

"Individuals who are entrusted with care and authority over the young, as the accused was by virtue of his position as a teacher, and yet abuse this trust and confidence reposed in them thus ought to be harshly condemned," said the prosecutor.

The defence asked instead for six years' jail, saying that his client was remorseful and admitted his offences to the police.

He added that "the main victims were not coerced nor pressured" and were "not particularly vulnerable".

To this, the prosecutor responded that "consent is immaterial" under the charge of sexual penetration of a minor under 16, as it is an offence to have sex with minors with or without their consent.