Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

A tuition teacher was charged with sexually assaulting his then-10-year-old female student in 2018.

He denied the offences and was later found guilty after trial and sentenced to 16 months imprisonment.

10-year-old girl testified at trial

In a judgment made publicly available on Dec. 13, 2023, the teacher's identity was not revealed except that he's over 50 years old.

He co-ran a tuition centre in Bedok Central with a friend he met during polytechnic.

The centre provided tuition for primary school students.

The victim was a 10-year-old girl who was attending English lessons at the centre.

As he denied his molestation charge, the girl had to testify in a trial against his account in the he-said-she-said scenario.

Alone in the lesson

According to the victim, she turned up for class at the tuition centre on the evening of Dec. 12, 2018.

She had attended two prior lessons with the teacher but had then been accompanied by two other students.

For this third lesson, she was alone.

During the lesson, the victim was asked to complete five worksheets.

The teacher sat next to her and marked each worksheet after it was done.

Victim felt helpless and scared

The victim said she was completing her second worksheet when the teacher molested her.

She described in detail how the teacher molested her and said she felt "afraid, worried and confused about what to do".

She estimated the ordeal to last five minutes and thwarted the accused attempts to go further by crossing her legs.

He later stood up and planted a kiss on the victim's neck.

During the trial, the victim disclosed that "she had felt helpless, scared and weird since that was the first time anybody had done these things to her".

Claimed there was 'no opportunity' for him

The teacher denied the allegations and claimed that there was "no opportunity" for him to commit the sexual assault.

He claimed their classroom was "left open throughout the victim's lesson time", "in full view of anyone who happened to walk past", and about 12 adult students of another company were using another classroom nearby.

In addition, the teacher said his business partner was conducting a lesson in a classroom diagonally opposite.

He admitted he "occasionally patted" the victim on her shoulder or back area "to offer encouragement".

The defence also doubted the credibility of the victim's testimony, claiming it was "inconsistent" with the statements she gave the police.

The lawyers also argued that the victim "did not show any signs of distress or abnormal behaviour when she left the tuition centre".

Claimed the girl 'concocted the sexual assault'

The defence also claimed that the girl "concocted the sexual assault" as she only disclosed the teacher's offences after being confronted by his father for her "excessive mobile phone usage" and tuition homework.

The girl explained that when she returned home, she wanted to tell her mother about the sexual assault, but her mother was rushing to go to a party, and she did not dare to tell her father.

The judge found it "inconceivable" that the victim had "had crafted such a detailed story of being sexually assaulted by the [teacher] just because she had been confronted about her mobile phone usage".

Judge found victim's testimony credible

The judge found the victim's testimony to be "unusually convincing" as she was coherent and cogent throughout and could recall the essentials of the case with consistency and in great detail.

He also believed that she did not harbour any grudge against the teacher or his business partner, and there was no reason or motive for her to lie and fabricate her evidence.

In her own words, the victim said he was “okay with them because they were really nice" but wanted to tell the truth as she knew the teacher had "done something wrong to her".

The judge also disagreed with the defence's arguments that there was no opportunity for the teacher to commit the acts, as CCTV footage showed periods when no one walked by the classroom.

He also believed the victim's explanation of why she did not inform the teacher's partner was that she thought she would side with him instead of her as she had only known her for a few weeks.

The teacher 'contributed positively to society': Defence

At the end of the trial, the judge convicted the teacher for the offence of molesting a girl under the age of 14.

The prosecution sought a jail term of between 16 months and 18 months, pointing out that he abused her trust as her teacher and the victim was particularly vulnerable for being merely 10 years old.

The defence pleaded for a prison sentence of not more than 12 months, claiming that the "degree of sexual exploitation was not high" and that the victim had "no particular vulnerabilities".

The defence also highlighted that the teacher "had a clean record", "contributed positively to society" "since his graduation with a Masters of Science in Software Systems Technology from [a university in England]" and had a "successful career" in the IT and semi-conductor sector, before setting up the tuition centre.

The defence also said the teacher "suffered from a multitude of health conditions", such as two incidents of "mini-stroke", causing him to be on "life-long medication", and obstructive sleep apnea, causing him to have to be on a breathing-assisting device every night.

Sentenced to 16 months' jail

The judge agreed with the prosecution that there was an abuse of trust as a teacher and that her younger age of 10 would put her in a more vulnerable position than a 14-year-old.

"She had exhibited a range of emotions in trying to make sense of what had happened to her – from shock, confusion, fear and feeling weak to the extend that she did not have the courage to push the [teacher's] hands away.

The only resistance she was able to muster was a passive one of crossing her legs tightly to prevent the [teacher] from extending his hand to her private parts."

He noted that while the teacher was a first offender, caning would be warranted as there was a need for a "retributive sentence, given the degree of sexual exploitation and the victim’s age".

However, as the teacher was of the age where he could not be caned, the judge sentenced the teacher to a total of 16 months in jail, including two months in jail in lieu of caning.

The teacher appealed against both the conviction and sentence.

Top image via Unsplash