A British man who molested a three-year-old girl at a learning centre for language and literacy has been sentenced to a jail term of 18 months and three strokes of the cane, The Straits Times reported.

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Richard Christopher Monks had been employed as a reading specialist at the centre, with the victim being a student in his class.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of outraging the toddler's modestly on Oct. 20, 2018.

Incident happened with five other students in class

Investigations revealed that on the day in question, a total of six students, including the victim, were attending class with the accused.

The victim was the youngest student in his class, with the others being between four and five years old.

The accused was also aware of a CCTV camera which had been installed in one corner of the classroom's ceiling.

Halfway through the class, Monks gathered the all the students to sit on one side of a table in middle of the room and placed himself behind the student.

This resulted in him being positioned diagonally opposite the CCTV camera, with the upper bodies of the students blocking the camera's view of his hands.

In addition, the lower halves of the students' bodies could not be captured from such an angle.

Monks then played a video on iPhone and placed it on the table.

While the students were watching the video, Monks repeatedly slid his hands under the victim's dress to caress her buttocks, causing her to turn around to look at him several times in discomfort.

However, the accused continued to persist in his actions, for a total of 15 minutes, according to the prosecution's sentencing submissions.

Parents found out about a week after the incident happened

The incident then came to light about a week later, on Oct. 27, when the victim's parents were preparing to bring her to class.

However, she appeared reluctant to go and when asked why, replied that "Teacher Richard" had touched her, pointing at her buttocks.

The victim's mother subsequently lodged a police report on the same day and stopped sending her to class thereafter.

Monks was arrested on Nov. 1, 2018 after returning from a trip to Thailand.

For outraging the modesty of a person below 14 years of age, Monks could have been jailed for up to five years, with a fine, or with caning, or both.

Top image Mothership file photo