Former preschool principal gets jail for failing to report toddler molestation by school cook
The judge said the irony was "striking", as the principal was taking part in a course about safeguarding children from abuse when she first learnt about the sexual abuse.
A view of the entrance to the State Courts building. (File photo: CNA)
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SINGAPORE: A former preschool principal who failed to report the molestation of a toddler by a school cook was sentenced to 10 days' jail on Wednesday (Apr 1), even though the prosecution sought a fine of at least S$8,000 (US$6,200).
The 62-year-old woman, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of the victim, had pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to report the cook's offence. Another charge of conspiring to obstruct justice was taken into consideration.
In sentencing, the judge pointed to the "striking" irony that the principal had been attending a course on safeguarding children from abuse when she first learnt of the offence.
The judge said the case serves as "a sobering reminder that child protection cannot be reduced to the mere completion of courses or formal training", but that educators must internalise and "faithfully discharge" the responsibilities that accompany the profound trust placed in them.
The cook, 61-year-old Teo Guan Huat, was sentenced in November to more than nine years’ jail for molesting three toddlers during naptime over seven months in 2023.
WHAT HAPPENED
The abuse surfaced on Nov 16, 2023, when the vice-principal inadvertently discovered incriminating footage of Teo while reviewing CCTV footage for an unrelated matter.
At the time, the executive director and principal were overseas attending a course on protecting children from abuse.
The three women discussed the issue with the chairwoman of the school's management committee in November 2023, when the vice-principal said she would rather not know what Teo had done if she were the mother of the victim.
The principal broke down in tears at this meeting.
While the chairwoman originally said she would not make a police report, she later informed the women that she had changed her mind.
The three women agreed to tender their resignations as earlier discussed, but the executive director and vice-principal further agreed to overwrite or delete incriminating footage.
The duo later pressured the principal to agree to this, and the vice-principal reformatted the hard discs of the CCTV system on the executive director’s instruction.
They had another meeting with the chairwoman, where an ambulance had to be called for the principal, as she was hyperventilating and crying.
A police report was made in early December 2023, and Teo was arrested. He had earlier resigned when given a choice to quit or be terminated.
The police found that all three of the hard discs on the preschool’s CCTV system had been reformatted, but managed to recover incriminating footage.
Following the incident, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) fined the preschool S$26,200, restricted new enrolments and shortened its licence tenure from 36 months to six months.
ECDA also took action against four members of the preschool's management, barring three of them from working in the preschool sector since April 2024.
All four staff members have been removed from their posts by the preschool's operator, the agency said previously.
The former executive director was sentenced to four months' jail, while the former vice-principal was given three months and two weeks' jail.
"SELFISH, SELF-PRESERVING"
In sentencing the principal, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said that because of the principal's "wilful inaction", a sexual predator might have remained at liberty to reoffend again.
"These are precisely the harms that reporting obligations are designed to guard against," she said, adding that the principal had made a "conscious decision" despite knowing what Teo had done.
As principal, the offender occupied a senior position in the preschool and was tasked with setting the standards, tone and culture of the institution, along with safeguarding the welfare of the young children in her care, said the judge.
She said the principal's conduct was "plainly influenced by considerations of self-interest" and that such "selfish and self-preserving motivations are highly aggravating".
She gave no weight to the defence's submission that the principal, having her ECDA licence revoked, had deprived her of her livelihood, saying these are the natural consequences of her offence.
For omitting to give information about an offence, a person can be jailed for up to six months, fined, or both.
