By Chong Shin Yen

HIS wife became the first woman to be jailed for having sex with an underage boy.

In Singapore, it was the first case of its kind after amendments to the Penal Code last year made it an offence for a woman to have sex with a boy under 16.

In her husband's heart, however, it is a personal betrayal.

She is his wife. She is the mother of their two children.

She is the woman he has known since the time they were both in school.

But love and responsibility proved to be stronger than hurt and betrayal.

He is standing by her.

He has forgiven her.

Supportive

'He told me that he will not divorce his wife no matter what,' the man's mother told The New Paper.

'He is supporting her throughout this ordeal.'

The man's wife, 32, a former primary school teacher, was yesterday jailed 10months.

She had earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of having sex with a minor.

Five other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The bespectacled woman was calm when District Judge Sarjit Singh sentenced her, but broke down just before she was led away from the dock.

She had sex with the student six times - twice at her flat and four times at a chalet - between March and May last year.

The woman cannot be named because the court has disallowed it.

Her husband did not show up in court yesterday. He was also a no-show at her previous court appearances.

But his mother, who is in her 60s, said he was supportive of his wife and had even driven her to court early yesterday morning.

Though he did not enter the courtroom, he was in close contact with his wife's lawyer.

Not long after she was sentenced, he called his mother and updated her.

His mother, a housewife, said in Mandarin: 'He was calm when he told me that she had been jailed for 10 months.

'As his mother, I know he's heartbroken that his wife betrayed him.

'But he didn't show his sadness or cry in front of me. He is being very strong.'

The woman started teaching at a primary school after she graduated.

She used to teach two subjects but resigned after the illicit affair came to light last May. The woman treated the boy like a godson at first but they became lovers after he told her that he had fallen for her.

She confessed to her husband around the middle of the year, her mother-in-law said.

'My son later told me and I was shocked to learn of what she had done,' she said.

'When I met her, she said sorry to me.

'My son had already forgiven her, so we did too.'

She added that her daughter-in-law's parents had also called her to apologise.

'They told me that they were sorry about what their daughter had done,' she said.

Low self-esteem

The man's mother added that her son was determined to keep the family together and not let the matter affect his work.

She did not want to reveal his occupation.

'He is working even harder now that they've become a single-income family and he has to continue paying their housing loan,' she said.

The woman's lawyer, Senior Counsel Sant Singh, said in her mitigation that she had been under a lot of work and family pressure at the time of the offences.

Mr Singh said that the former teacher had dedicated a lot of time to school projects and had to attend meetings after work and on most Saturdays.

She had extra responsibilities after her promotion and when she got home, she had to manage the household and look after her two children.

A psychiatric report tendered to the court stated that the former teacher was undergoing a stressful and difficult time when she committed the offences.

She was described as suffering from chronic low self-esteem.

But when she became a teacher, it provided her with a sense of achievement and self-worth.

Although she faced unhappiness and dissatisfaction at work, she remained unassertive and tolerated things.

The report added that she was also caught in an unhappy situation at home and she resented having to stretch herself to look after her family's needs.

It didn't help that her husband was busy with his career and community work, and often returned home late at night.

As a result, the couple drifted apart emotionally.

The former teacher also expressed remorse and said she was most concerned about the effects of her actions on her husband and children, according to the report.

But it seemed the woman had hidden her feelings well.

Her mother-in-law said she was unaware that the couple were having problems with their relationship.

She said: 'They were like any other normal couple. He (her son) would drive her to work every day.

'And on weekends, they would spend their time with their two children.'

She stays with them on weekdays so that she can look after their children while they are at work. She returns to her own flat on weekends.

She described her daughter-in-law as a quiet person.

'When she was still a teacher, she would usually return home from school around 7pm,' she said.

'By then, I would have prepared dinner and she would play with her children after dinner.'

Shameful

After she resigned, the woman has been spending most of her time with her children at home.

Yesterday, she bade them goodbye before leaving the flat with her husband to go to court.

'She didn't cry because if her children see her crying, they will cry too,' said the mother-in-law.

She added that the children, especially the younger one, would probably start asking for their mother.

'We will tell them that she has gone overseas to work,' she said.

'What happened was shameful but she is facing up to the consequences of her mistake.'

The woman could have been jailed 10 years and fined.

This article first appeared in The New Paper.

Read also:

» Ex-teacher jailed for teen sex

» Crossing the line between teacher and student

» What makes them cross the line?