Ex-teacher in S'pore told student, then 15, to undress over video call, then exposed himself & performed sexual act, given 5 months' jail

A 39-year-old former teacher was sentenced on Mar. 25, 2026 to five months' jail in Singapore after he told his 15-year-old student to undress while on a video call with her in 2013, to which she complied.

The man, who is married with two young children, then exposed himself and performed a sexual act, The Straits Times reported.

The accused cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim's identity.

He pleaded guilty to one count of committing an obscene act with the girl.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) previously told ST in August 2025 that the accused had been suspended since April 2023 and was no longer teaching in any school.

Taught biology

In 2012, the man began teaching at a school where he taught the girl's class biology for one term when she was a secondary three student, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

He did not teach her in 2013.

The girl and another student subsequently approached the man for a consultation on biology-related questions in October 2013 as the O-level examinations were approaching.

He later created a Facebook group chat called "Bio consultation", which consisted of himself, the girl and other students.

In addition, he shared his personal mobile phone number with the students, inviting them to contact him via WhatsApp if they had any questions.

The girl later contacted him via WhatsApp over school-related questions, and their conversations moved towards personal matters over time.

She also told him her home address.

Day before exam

Later in November 2013, the man contacted the girl a day before her biology O-level exam to tell her that he was near her home and asked to meet for a consultation for her biology paper.

They then met at a park near her home around 8pm on Nov. 14, 2013.

"Subsequent to this meeting, the accused and victim began to engage in video calls at night, and they would also meet in person at a park near the victim’s house," the deputy public prosecutor said, adding that "the accused would hold the victim's hands and kiss her during some of these in-person meetings".

"The accused was engaged to his fiancee at this time but told the victim that he intended to end his relationship with his fiancee to be together with the victim," the DPP said.

When the man and the girl engaged in a video call between Nov. 14 and Dec. 27, 2013, the girl exposed her private parts while the man stimulated himself.

They also engaged in similar calls on multiple other occasions before Dec. 27, 2013.

Struggled with self-worth

Following this, they stopped contacting each other after she entered junior college in 2014.

"As a result of the accused's offences and the victim's relationship with the accused, the victim struggled with her self-worth as she felt that she would only be worthy of love and affection if she acceded to sexual requests from her partners," said the prosecutor.

"The victim struggled with these issues for years up to 2023."

On or around Apr. 6, 2023, the victim saw an ST news report about another teacher who was investigated in a molestation case, where she then realised that the offender's actions towards her were exploitative.

After the victim filed a report through MOE's online portal, the school where the offender taught soon found out about the case.

Its principal spoke to him on Apr. 6, 2023 before the police were alerted five days later.

The offender was suspended from duties later that month before being arrested in August 2025.

Top photo via AFP