A former badminton coach at a secondary school groomed a 15-year-old student and engaged in sexual acts with her.

The man, then aged 29, had also sent inappropriate Instagram messages to other minors in the school, including those not on the badminton team.

The messages included comments on girls' figures and questions about their intimate lives.

The man was dismissed from his position in June 2019 when the principal and the head of department of CCA & PE found out about his behaviour.

The man, now aged 33, pleaded guilty to two out of three counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 16.

The third count was taken into consideration for his sentencing.

He was sentenced to three years in jail on May 23, 2024.

The victim and accused cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity.

Started chatting on Instagram

The victim got to know the badminton coach when she was in secondary one and joined the school's badminton team in 2017.

Sometime between March and April 2017, the man and the victim started following each other on Instagram.

The man initiated private messaging and they started to chat daily.

Eventually, this progressed into the man sending the victim home after practice and bringing her out for meals on a few occasions.

Started to hug and kiss victim when she was 14

In 2018, when the victim was about 14, the man started holding her hands in public and hugged and kissed her when they were alone in his car.

"The accused’s care and attention towards the victim made her feel special. The accused told her that they could only be in an ‘unofficial’ relationship as he was already married and the victim agreed to this arrangement," the prosecutor said.

Sometime after the victim turned 15 in 2019, the man texted the victim a checklist containing intimate questions including whether the victim had kissed anyone and if she had sex before.

He later asked the victim if he could have sex with her but she refused.

However, the man was persistent and asked the victim to have sex until she eventually agreed.

The prosecution pointed out that by this time, the man knew he was being investigated by the school for sending inappropriate private messages to its students and terminated his engagement as a school coach.

However, he continued to engage in inappropriate conversations with the victim.

School's internal investigation

The principal spoke to seven students with whom the man had communicated via Instagram and found out that two had received inappropriate private messages in 2018.

The messages include comments on the looks and figures of other girls from the school and sending pictures of girls in bikinis or lingerie claiming that he found them on "tumbler".

He also asked intimate questions like whether the student had watched pornography and the extent of one student's relationship with her boyfriend.

The school investigated the complaint internally and terminated the man in June 2019.

Sexual acts with victim

Sometime between Sep. 10 and 14, 2019, the man arranged with the victim to meet at a town club at about 7:30am.

They went to his car which was parked at the club's basement carpark, and he performed sexual acts on her.

He proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her with a condom.

Halfway through, he removed the condom and continued the act. He stopped when it was time for his coaching session.

When the victim questioned why he removed the condom, the man responded with a laugh and told her that "it did not feel as nice when wearing a condom" and left for his coaching session.

After that day, the pair continued to communicate via private messaging.

The victim expressed her concerns about getting pregnant but was told not to worry and instead was asked to have sex again. The victim declined.

Sometime in late September 2019, the victim met the man at the same town club for a private badminton training session in the morning.

Before the session, the man initiated sexual acts with the victim again and she agreed.

"The victim agreed to engage in the sexual acts with the accused as she felt indebted to him for his kindness," the prosecutor said.

Victim was depressed

Following the two sexual encounters with the man, the victim started realising what he had done to her was "not right" and occasionally texted him that she felt "dirty" for what had happened between them.

She had done so in hopes of eliciting an apology from him as she wanted closure.

However, he refused to apologise and said that what he did was to "care" for her.

The victim sought help from her school counsellors in 2022 as she was experiencing depression.

While she was still undecided if she should lodge a police report, she also feared that there might be others who fall prey to the man.

The counsellors advised the victim on the process of reporting the man and also spoke to the victim’s parents.

The victim eventually lodged a police report on Jul. 27, 2022, saying that the man had sexually groomed her and eventually engaged in sexual acts with her.

The man was placed under arrest the next day and eventually admitted to his offences despite having deleted the text messages between him and the victim.

Top photo from Canva