An ex-teacher from a top school in Singapore pleaded guilty to showing a 17-year-old male student explicit adult videos and was sentenced on Friday (7 July) to 54 days imprisonment, according to The Straits Times.
The incident occurred after the accused, who resigned from his position in February 2021, learned that the teenager was going through stress at the time and had started harming himself.
The man then suggested that the boy stimulate and pleasure himself to deal with the stress.
The accused, who pleaded guilty in March, has been charged with one count of showing explicit material to the teenager. To protect the identity of the victim, who is currently 19 years old, a gag order has been issued, prohibiting the disclosure of the accused’s name.
During the court proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Poon revealed that the offender had an extensive teaching career spanning over 22 years and was the boy’s form teacher at the time, as well as being his tutor for the subject “civics”.
Following the sentencing, the man’s bail was set at $10,000, and he is required to surrender himself at the State Courts on July 17 to commence his sentence.
Background
The teacher was tutoring the victim at the time of the offence, helping him with the subject “civics”.
He received an email from the student’s mother on 28 January 2021, who told him about her son struggling with his negative thoughts and emotions.
The teacher then reached out to the mother and told her that the boy was also falling behind in class, and he also went to speak to the boy personally.
The victim revealed to the teacher that he was hurting himself as a way to cope with his stress, and the teacher then gave his phone number to the boy and told him to save it under a different name, saying that it was because their conversation was “not exactly legit”.
The boy trust the teacher and told his mother that he was thankful to have an adult that he could trust (referring to the teacher), to speak to about his problems.
On 2 February 2021, the man gave the victim a self-help book and asked him why was he hurting himself, to which the boy said that he needed a coping mechanism.
The man then told the boy that males of his age only have 2 ways to de-stress, taking medication or “stimulating” themselves.
He then asked the boy if he had ever watched adult videos, and introduced him to some websites.
On 6 February 2021, the teacher invited the boy over to his home for dinner and before eating, he complained about the heat and asked the boy if he wanted to take off his shirt.
The boy then changed into a singlet that the teacher offered him, as the latter watched him change.
He then kept pressuring the boy to drink alcohol with him during dinner, as he shared his personal experiences with intercourse.
He soon got himself drunk and started crying, placing his hands on the boy’s arm and chest, and moving them around for about 10 minutes.
He also showed the victim 3 adult videos on his mobile phone.
The next day (7 February 2021) the boy told his mother about what happened, and she then immediately told the school about it and a police report was also filed.
The teacher then resigned from his job that same month.