SINGAPORE: The prosecution is seeking four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half years’ jail and five to 15 strokes of the cane for a suspended teacher who molested an 11-year-old student five times in a Head of Department room.
In their arguments on Friday (Aug 31) explaining the reasons for the sentence sought, the prosecutors said the boy was “impacted greatly” by the teacher’s sexual abuse.
As a result, he has lost the love for his co-curricular activity, distrusts other teachers and failed his O-Level examinations last year as a result of “retraumatisation” as he had to testify in the trial against the teacher years after the incidents.
The 44-year-old man, who has been suspended since November 2018 and is no longer teaching in any school, was convicted last week of five counts of molesting the boy in a HOD room at an unnamed school between November 2017 and October 2018.
The names of the school, the man and the victim cannot be published because of gag orders protecting the boy’s identity.
The boy had come from a broken family and confided in the teacher about his problems but instead, he was molested repeatedly.
At trial, the prosecution charged that the former teacher coached witnesses, including fellow teachers, on what to say.
On Friday, defence lawyer Gino Hardial Singh asked for three years’ jail and no caning. However, if the court is to impose caning, he suggested one stroke per charge as there was no “skin-to-skin contact” – the man had molested the boy over his shorts.
He said this was his client’s first offence, and took objection with the prosecution’s description of “witness tampering”.
“He did not ask the teachers to lie in court,” said Mr Singh.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Ying Min said the man may not have been found guilty of witness tampering, but pointed to objective evidence that shows the offender telling witnesses what to say in court.
Had the witnesses’ false accounts led to a false acquittal, the victim could have walked away thinking the justice system had failed him, said Ms Lim.
She called the offender a wolf in sheep’s clothing and said “it is time for him to receive his just desserts”.
THE BOY’S STATEMENT
In her sentencing submissions along with Deputy Public Prosecutor Angela Ang, Ms Lim cited the harm caused to the victim, as shown in his victim impact statement.
The boy wrote: “After the incidents, I felt embarrassed, sad and (stressed) that a teacher whom I trusted so much, did such a thing to me which caused me to develop trust issues with teachers.”
He said he has since become “more mindful of overly friendly teachers” and maintains his distance. He also gave up on his CCA as seeing anything related to it reminds him of the molestation, which he “tried very hard to bury at the back of my mind”.
“Last year during the trial, I was affected by the trial proceedings as I had to relive the incidents over and over again which caused me stress and this in turn (affected) my studies as I could not concentrate on my studies as I kept thinking about the court proceedings,” said the boy.
He added that he worried about what the judgment would be and this led to him failing his O-Levels, which he is retaking this year.
“This caused me (to be) more stressful, tired and angry to spend one more extra year in secondary school,” he said.
The man will return to court for sentencing next week.