Singapore jails former teacher, 64, for texting student, 15, about sex toys

On Thursday, the man pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual exploitation of a child under the age of 16. The offender and victim cannot be named due to a court order protecting the victim’s identity.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Friday the offender has left the teaching service. The man has not been teaching at any school since February, when the case was reported to MOE, a spokesperson added.

“MOE takes a serious view of staff misconduct and will take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to our standards of conduct and discipline, including dismissal from service,” said the spokesperson.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lee Da Zhuan told the court the teacher knew the victim in 2020 when the boy was a Secondary 1 student.

They had a teacher-student relationship.

Towards the end of last year, the teacher started to send phone text messages to the student on sexual topics that included the use of sex toys.

Court documents did not state how long the teacher had been having such text exchanges with the student.

However, DPP Lee mentioned two occasions on November 28 and January 28 when the teacher sent the boy sexually explicit messages, including a video of a sex toy.

“The victim was alarmed by the accused’s messages and felt sexually exploited,” DPP Lee said.

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On February 27, the victim made a police report of his teacher’s actions.

The prosecution sought a sentence of at least one month, noting that the teacher had abused the victim’s trust.

“The accused had acted exactly the opposite of his responsibility towards the victim as his teacher by taking advantage of the victim, sexually texting the victim on multiple occasions,” DPP Lee said.

For sexual exploitation of a child under the age of 16, the teacher could have been jailed up to seven years or been fined up to S$10,000 (US$7,300), or both.