Ex-secondary school basketball coach found guilty of kissing former student

SINGAPORE: A former basketball coach at a secondary school was found guilty on Tuesday (Dec 13) of outraging a student's modesty by kissing her lips while in his car.

The 67-year-old man, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the victim's identity, was convicted of one count of using criminal force on the then-21-year-old woman by kissing her twice on her lips, knowing it would likely outrage her modesty.

The man had contested the charge.

On Tuesday, District Judge Melissa Tan laid out her reasons for convicting him.

The accused was the victim's secondary school basketball coach. At the time of the offence in 2019, the victim was attending further studies in Australia, and had returned to Singapore over the semester break.

On Feb 20, 2019, the victim and accused both attended a lunch gathering with the victim's secondary school basketball friends.

The victim's phone was spoilt, and she discussed with the accused about taking it to a shop for repairs.

That night, the victim messaged the accused, thanking him for taking the time to meet the group. She said she hoped to see him again in six months or a year.

The next day on Feb 21, 2019, the victim messaged the accused saying she was free in the afternoon. 

Sometime after 1pm that day, he picked her up at Holland Village in his car, and drove to City Plaza where the repair shop was located.

After going to the shop, the victim and the accused went for food and drinks at a food court in the same building.

Sometime that afternoon, the accused then kissed the victim twice on her lips in his car, while it was parked at City Plaza.

He later drove the victim to somewhere near Plaza Singapura where she met a friend.

She took a flight back to Australia the next day, but her mother lodged a police report about a week later.

Her mother alleged that the accused had touched the victim on a few occasions while they were inside his car.

District Judge Melissa Tan said the main issue at the trial was whether the accused had kissed the victim twice on her lips, knowing he would likely outrage her modesty.

The prosecution called five witnesses, with the victim as their main witness. The prosecution's case was that the victim was an unusually convincing witness, and had no motive to lie or fabricate the allegation.

Her evidence was also corroborated by phone records and other witnesses, the prosecution contended.

The defence's case was that the accused did not kiss the victim twice on her lips. They contended that the victim's testimony was fraught with numerous internal and external inconsistencies.

The accused was the sole defence witness, with his lawyer calling his account a detailed and materially consistent one that should be preferred over the victim's.

VICTIM WAS RELIABLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD: JUDGE

Judge Tan said she found the victim to be a reliable witness. She testified in a straightforward and unhesitating manner, addressing inconsistencies directly when confronted with them.

Her account of events was sufficiently detailed and coherent and material evidence relating to the events surrounding the two kisses was consistent, said the judge.

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

She said he was evasive. For example, during cross-examination, the accused agreed that he knew that the victim's first text message was about repairing her phone.

However, when asked if he knew about the phone because he had a call with the victim, the accused said he did not know and could not remember.

When asked if it was possible that he called her after she sent the message, he said it was unlikely because he slept early every night, and if he had made such a phone call, his wife would be next to him.

He also testified that he had never asked the victim to be his goddaughter while they were in his car. In his own words, there was no necessity to do so.

The defence put to the victim that there was no such conversation where the accused asked her to be his goddaughter, but Judge Tan said this contradicted the accused's account in his earlier statements.

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

When shown the statement and asked why it was different, the man said he had only jokingly asked. When asked if this amounted to asking the victim to be his goddaughter, he said he could not remember as it had been three-and-a-half years since.

The judge said she was satisfied that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, and convicted the accused of the charge.

He has no prior convictions. 

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

In response to queries from CNA, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said that the offender's registration as an MOE instructor has been terminated. He is no longer working with any school.

"MOE is committed to providing a safe learning environment for students. We take a serious view of instructors whose conduct compromises the safety and well-being of our students, and will not hesitate to take firm action against them, such as termination of their services and permanent debarment from providing their services to schools," said the spokesperson.