Jail, caning for private tutor who repeatedly molested teen student in his home
The Singapore permanent resident and Indonesian national was sentenced on Tuesday (July 9) to two years and one month behind bars, as well as six strokes of the cane.
SINGAPORE — He asked his 15-year-old student to stay back after her tuition lessons so he could help her complete her homework.
Then, the mathematics tutor molested the girl at least five times in his own home, where he held the classes.
For his actions last year, the Singapore permanent resident and Indonesian national was sentenced on Tuesday (July 9) to two years and one month behind bars, as well as six strokes of the cane.
The 48-year-old pleaded guilty last month to three charges of using criminal force to molest the girl. Two other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Neither he nor the girl, who is now 16, can be named due to a court gag order to protect her identity.
A victim impact statement was submitted to the court on Tuesday, which revealed that the girl gets very scared now when anyone says the word “tuition”. She also resorted to self-harm, and her studies were affected.
The court previously heard that the victim attended the tuition classes for about eight months from July 2017 to March last year. She was in Secondary 3 at the time.
She took the classes three times a week — from 5pm to 7pm on Mondays, from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesdays, and from 9am to 11am on Saturdays.
He molested her multiple times in February and March last year, after asking her to stay back after class to complete her homework. On some of these occasions, she was wearing her school uniform.
The last incident took place on March 7 last year: After all the other students had left, he molested her over her school uniform for a few seconds, before sliding his hand under her top and molesting her under her underwear for about 30 seconds. He then lifted her shirt for a few seconds.
Court documents also stated that on one occasion, he hugged her and kissed her on the lips.
At the time, he had about 40 students in total. About five to 12 students attended each tuition class.
“After being molested by the accused, the victim felt… uncomfortable, shocked and speechless by the accused’s actions. She kept the incidents of molest to herself because she was afraid to speak up and did not know how to react,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Delicia Tan told the court.
On March 9 last year, she decided to confide in her friend about the molestation over WhatsApp, saying that her teacher had become more brazen two days ago.
After the friend told the school what happened, the school got in touch with the girl’s mother on March 11 last year. She then took the girl to the Pasir Ris Neighbourhood Police Centre.
For each charge of using criminal force to outrage the girl’s modesty, the teacher could have been jailed up to two years, fined, caned, or any combination of the three.
