SINGAPORE — A 44-year-old man was convicted by a court on Friday (Aug 25) of five counts of molesting an 11-year-old student when he was a teacher at a primary school.
A 44-year-old man was convicted by a court on Friday of five counts of molesting an 11-year-old student when he was a teacher at a primary school.
Multiple witnesses testified in the case, including the boy, his relatives, the school's principal and teachers, as well as former students.Deputy Public Prosecutors Lim Ying Min and Angela Ang said the victim was from a fractured family, with his parents separating when he was an infant. They grew so close that even the boy's mother came to rely on the teacher. But she said she did not know that her son had been going out alone with the teacher, or that he had become the teacher's godson.
The molesting continued another four times, with the final incident occurring when the boy confided in the teacher about having to move out and how he had cried as he felt his mother no longer wanted him.The boy testified that his focus was not on the teacher's touch at this time because he was too emotional about having to move out.
When the victim showed his brother a photo of the teacher, his brother jokingly said that the teacher looked"gay" and asked if he had touched the victim. He also said he did not want to"break" his relationship with the teacher, who had helped him a lot and whom he was grateful for. He argued that he could not have committed the offences in most of the charges as he had only moved to the cubicle in question in September 2018.He also gave inconsistent evidence, such as saying that he did not talk to the victim about the victim being scolded or beaten by his stepfather, even though he had said otherwise to the police.The prosecution said the teacher had persistently tried to obstruct the court of justice in the course of trial, despite numerous warnings.
The accused had also contacted a prosecution witness - the principal of the school - by sending her an email while the trial was ongoing. He then sent a series of images to the witness, along with his own narration of a chronology of events. He reminded her that when she took the stand, the prosecution would ask her questions like how sure she was, and that she would"say these lor".
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