Ex-sec school coach, 67, found guilty of kissing former student while they were alone in City Plaza

A judge found the man's testimony to be unreliable.

Ruth Chai | December 14, 2022, 05:47 PM

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Alone with a former student in his car, an ex-secondary school basketball coach kissed her twice on the lips.

The 67-year-old man was found guilty on Tuesday (Dec. 13) of outraging the former student's modesty by using criminal force on the then-21-year-old woman.

The man, who cannot be named due to a court-ordered gag, had contested the charge.

What happened

According to the man's charge sheets, the offence occurred in on Feb. 21, 2019, at City Plaza mall sometime between 1pm and 3:30pm.

CNA reported that the victim — who had been coached by the man when she was in secondary school — had returned to Singapore during a semester break from Australia where she studied.

The day before the incident, the victim and accused had met up during a lunch gathering with the victim's secondary school basketball friends.

During the gathering, the woman — whose phone was spoilt — spoke with her former coach about getting it repaired.

Later that night, the woman messaged the man and thanked him for meeting with the group.

While she'd told him that she hoped to see him again in either six months or a year, they would meet the next day.

According to CNA, the woman messaged the accused to say that she was free in the afternoon. He would pick her up at Holland Village sometime after 1pm and drive her to City Plaza to get her phone fixed.

They also had food and drinks at a food court in the mall.

That afternoon, while they were sitting in the man's parked car, the former coach kissed the woman twice on the lips.

He then drove the victim to Plaza Singapura where she met with a friend of hers before taking a flight back to Australia the next day.

About a week later, her mother lodged a police report alleging that the man had touched the victim inappropriately while they were inside his car.

Victim's modesty was outraged

During court proceedings, the prosecution called upon five witnesses — including the victim.

They argued that the woman was an unusually convincing witness and that she had no motive to lie, reported CNA.

They also pointed to corroborating evidence like phone records and other witnesses.

The defence on the other hand claimed that the victim was fabricating the allegations entirely and that her testimony was fraught with numerous inconsistencies.

Their sole witness was the man.

Judge found victim's account reliable

According to CNA, District Judge Melissa Tan said that she found the victim to be a reliable witness, citing the straightforward, unhesitating manner of her testimony and her ability to address inconsistencies when confronted with them.

"I find that her evidence did contain the ring of truth," said Tan. "In contrast, I find the accused to be an unreliable witness whose evidence was lacking in credibility."

Tan added that the man was evasive in questioning.

During cross-examination, the man initially agreed that he knew that the victim's first text message was about repairing her phone but later said that he could not remember how he knew about it being broken.

He was also asked if it was possible that he had called the victim after she sent the message, he said that it would be unlikely as he was an early sleeper. He added that his wife would have been next to him if he had indeed placed such a call.

Man had jokingly asked the victim to be his goddaughter

In the man's initial statement, he had jokingly asked the victim to call him "godpa" while they were in his car.

However, during his testimony, he said that he had never done such a thing, as there was no need to do so.

Judge Tan said that his testimony had contradicted his statement.

When confronted with the differences in his statement, the man said that he had only "jokingly" asked the question.

He added that he could not remember the details of the incident very clearly as it had been three and a half years since the incident.

CNA reported that Judge Tan said that the prosecution was able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, and convicted the accused of the charge.

Parties will return to court in January for mitigation and sentencing.

Top photo via Google Maps