A Burlington educator on trial for child sex abuse in Indonesia has successfully sued an accuser in nearby Singapore, a country known for strict defamation laws, attaining a small victory as his criminal proceedings continue.

A woman's claim that the international-school administrator, Neil Bantleman, raped her pre-school son — made while in Singapore — has been deemed defamatory by the city-state's high court.

The civil judgment does not affect Bantleman's ongoing criminal case, even though the trial is based partly on the same allegation.

A hearing was held last week before Justice Lee Seiu Kin to assess damages, according to court documents. Damages to be awarded by the Singapore high court are at least $230,000 (Canadian), though Lee has not yet decided on the final figure.

The date for the next hearing was not immediately known.

Chew Kei-Jin, Bantleman's lawyer, told the Toronto Star the judge ruled against the mother when she failed to appear in court at an earlier date.

The mother, who is European, is living in Indonesia but planning to move Singapore, where her husband works. She did not respond to requests for comment. The Toronto Star is withholding her name to protect the boy's identity.

Bantleman and an Indonesian teaching assistant, Ferdinant Tjiong, are on trial charged with sexual abuse of the boy and two other male students between 2013 and 2014, at what was then known as the Jakarta International School. They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Bantleman has sued the mother for repeating some of those allegations in an email to other parents in June last year, when he was first investigated. He brought the suit with three co-plaintiffs: Tjiong; the school's American principal, Elsa Donohue, whom police investigated, but did not charge; and the school itself.

The Toronto Star is withholding the content of the email, as it is also evidence in Bantleman's criminal trial and subject to a media ban that Chief Judge Nur Aslam Bustaman issued earlier and re-emphasized at Wednesday's hearing in Jakarta.

At the assessment of damages in Singapore last week, Bantleman's wife, Tracy Bantleman, gave testimony as to how that email had "ruined" her husband's personal and professional life.

"He has been demoralized," she recounted in a phone interview. "He takes great pride in himself as an educator, and these allegations have ruined his sense of self and sense of purpose."

Tracy Bantleman added that the allegations would make it nearly impossible for her husband to work as a teacher again, and would jeopardize her own career as they have been teaching together internationally.

"In the international teaching circuit, couples are hired first," she said. "And what school would honestly want to take on a teacher who has had allegations of sexual abuse made against them?"

Tracy said the couple filed the suit mainly to restore Neil Bantleman's professional reputation. "If there's one country we can ever work in, then, it might be Singapore," she mused.

The city-state sets the burden of proof for defamation plaintiffs relatively low, making it a favourable place for such litigation. The plaintiffs had tried to defend their reputations in Indonesia as well, through a different claim of criminal defamation, but were unsuccessful.

Tracy Bantleman said the last time Donohue was interviewed by Indonesian police was in August last year, "and nothing has come of that."

The Singaporean judgement, however, has no effect in Indonesia, which does not have an enforcement treaty with the city-state. Tracy said the couple will likely never see the monetary damages.

But evidence gained in the civil litigation — Singaporean medical records of the boy, subpoenaed by lawyers — can be used in the criminal trial, which is nearing its end.

The defence has until March 3 to call witnesses and a verdict is expected in April. Tracy said that timeframe limits the defence's days of testimony to seven, while the prosecution has had 11.

But beyond voicing "serious concerns," Tracy provided few details on the proceedings as the trial becomes increasingly opaque. In an unusual move earlier this month, Judge Nur forbade those involved in the trial from disclosing details to media, completely curtaining off the already closed-door proceedings. Canadian consular officials have also been repeatedly shut out.

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Back home, the Liberals and NDP have called on the federal government, which has been quiet on the subject, to pressure Indonesia for a fair and transparent trial.

In a statement, a foreign affairs spokeswoman acknowledged it is "rare" that consular officials attend proceedings, but said they are "actively engaged" in other ways.

She added that senior officials, including Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lynne Yelich and Ambassador to Indonesia Donald Bobiash, "continue to press" local authorities for, among other things, transparency.