Former primary school teacher gets jail for sexual relationship with her underage former student

SINGAPORE: After teaching mathematics to a boy for two years in a primary school, a woman developed a romantic relationship with the minor that turned sexual when he was in lower secondary.

The 35-year-old Singaporean woman, who cannot be named due to gag orders preventing her and the victim's identification, was sentenced to 22 months' jail on Thursday (Mar 26).

She pleaded guilty to one charge each of sexual exploitation of a child and causing sexual penetration by a minor.

Another two charges including sexual grooming and stalking were considered in sentencing.

The Ministry of Education had previously said that the woman was suspended from March 2024 and is no longer teaching in any school.

THE CASE

The court heard that the victim was in Primary 5 in 2016 when the accused taught him mathematics for two years.

After the victim graduated from primary school, he kept in touch with his former teacher via WhatsApp.

He would reach out to her when he needed help with his secondary school homework.

Towards the end of 2018, when the victim was in Secondary 1, they began texting more, having conversations about daily life.

This progressed to the pair meeting up in person several times and growing closer.

In February 2019, when the woman was 28 and the victim was 13 and in Secondary 2, the pair entered into a romantic relationship.

The woman knew it was wrong to do so with a former student, who was also a minor.

During their relationship, she continued to help him with schoolwork and gave him money for food and transport when asked.

Sometime between February 2019 and October 2019 when the victim was 13, the woman picked him up in her vehicle and drove to the seventh deck of a multi-storey car park at a redacted location near the victim's house.

They hugged and kissed each other in the parked car.

This meeting lasted about an hour before the woman drove off.

After this, the pair continued to meet outside school hours and engaged in consensual physical intimacy, the court heard.

Sometime between November and December in 2019, the woman parked in a secluded spot and the pair hugged and kissed each other.

They then engaged in consensual sexual acts.

In July 2023, the victim wanted to end the relationship. Faced with the break-up, the woman cried and said she still loved him.

He insisted on the break-up and told her not to contact him, before blocking her on social media.

The woman began stalking the victim, calling his phone 25 times and sending him emails 17 times.

She said he had hurt her and "ruined her" emotionally and mentally, that she hoped to "die soon", that she loved him, missed him and wanted to smell him, and that she was unhappy about his new relationship.

The victim lodged a police report against her because of the stalking and she was arrested on Mar 7, 2024.

SENTENCING ARGUMENTS

The prosecution sought 22 to 26 months' jail for the woman, noting that the sexual activity occurred on multiple occasions and that the woman had harassed the victim.

He considered the fact that the accused was no longer the victim's teacher when they started having a sexual relationship, but said it was still relevant that she was his former teacher.

The prosecutor also confirmed that the case had occurred before amendments to the law in 2020, which made oral penetration a type of rape.

Defence lawyer Mr Ashvin Hariharan of Ashvin Law sought 12 to 13 months' jail instead. He said in his mitigation plea that his client has shown remorse and "continues to regret her actions".

Mr Ashvin submitted that there was no abuse of trust in this case.

However, the judge asked him about how the victim had approached the accused for homework help on the basis that she was his former teacher.

Mr Ashvin said the victim reaching out for mathematics homework did not result in the woman being in a position of responsibility to him.

In sentencing, Principal District Judge Lee Lit Cheng said the accused was not in a position of responsibility towards the victim, but she was a person in whom the victim had placed his trust.

This was because she was his former teacher and continued to care for him even after he had left primary school.

Judge Lee said this is apparent in the statement of facts which says that the accused continued to help the victim with his schoolwork, and also gave him money for transport and food when he was short of funds.

She said there was therefore some degree of abuse of trust that the victim, then 14, had reposed in the woman.

The judge then referred to a precedent case and said the degree of abuse of trust was significantly lower in this case compared to the precedent case, where the offender ended the relationship out of guilt.

Here, the accused person repeatedly tried to contact the victim after he ended the relationship.

The precedent case referred to is a benchmark case where a woman faced sexual assault charges with the use of objects. The ruling touched on issues that include the element of abuse of trust. 

Judge Lee said there appears to have been a "genuine romantic relationship", which was recognised as a mitigating factor in the precedent case.

The accused is also not a serial offender targeting multiple minors, and she has a relatively low risk of reoffending.

She allowed the woman to defer her jail term for two weeks.

For causing sexual penetration by a minor, she could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both.

For sexual exploitation of a child, she could have been jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$10,000 (US$7,800), or both.