Flip a coin to decide if we have sex

HIS PLOY

Not only was he was twice as old as his student, the 31-year-old was also engaged to be married.

Still, the school teacher tried to get intimate with the 15-year-old girl.

And in her case, it turned into a situation of "heads he wins, tails she loses".

As their relationship became increasingly personal, he asked her if she would have sex with him as a forfeit if she lost a bet to him.

He also asked her to send him nude pictures of herself and she complied.

Later, when she was hesitant to join him in his bed, he gave her a coin and told her to flip it to decide whether they should remain platonic friends or start a physical relationship.

About a month later, the teacher had sex with the underage girl for the first time.

Yesterday, the man, who is now jobless, pleaded guilty in the State Court to five charges - four of having sex with a minor and one of performing an obscene act with a young person.

Another five charges will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced on June 30.

The man, a former scholar and Head of Department in the school, cannot be named to protect his victim's identity.

Court documents revealed that he had sex with the minor on various occasions between September 2012 and May last year, always unprotected, except once in November 2012.

His crimes were discovered only after the girl was admitted to hospital with suicidal tendencies. (See report on facing page.)

GAMBIT

They became close after an overseas school trip in June 2012, and she started confiding in him about her family and her difficulties with her studies.

The same month, he got engaged and told his victim about it.

During the September school holidays, he invited her to his parents' flat - where he used to live - when they were out.

After watching a video in his room, he asked if he could hug her. She agreed, but when he tried to get her to his bed, she hesitated.

He told her that she was free to leave if she had doubts, before resorting to the coin gambit.

After tossing the coin, the girl decided to join him in his bed, where he rubbed himself against her body.

He also French-kissed her and caressed her before taking her home.

The following month, he drove her to a secluded spot at Rifle Range Road in Upper Bukit Timah where they had unprotected sex.

When she complained of pain, the accused stopped and asked her if she wanted to continue. She agreed and they resumed having sex.

In November that year, he took the girl to V Hotel Lavender at Jellicoe Road.

He told her to wait in the car while he checked in. When they got to the room, she gave him oral sex on his request.

CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICE

He then handed the girl a female contraceptive device which he had bought from overseas for his fiancee to use, though the opportunity never arose.

This was the only time the accused had protected sex with his victim. They went back to having unprotected sex in December in his parents' flat.

Police investigations showed that their last sexual encounter was in May last year, about two weeks before the accused got married.

He can be jailed up to 10 years, fined or both for having sex with a minor.

For performing an obscene act with a young person, he can be jailed up to five years, fined up to $10,000, or both.

He knew right from wrong

The accused's lawyer, Mr Roy Grenville Neighbour, pleaded for leniency and asked for a sentence at the "lower end" of the sentencing scale.

While admitting that his client had made a serious error of judgment, he said he found it hard to believe that the couple's relationship kick-started the victim's mental problems.

Mr Neighbour said: "She was not deceived into the relationship and knew all along that the accused was engaged and would soon be getting married."

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kavita Uthrapathy disagreed, saying the accused had abused his position as a teacher.

She said that as a scholar and an adult, he knew what was right and wrong, and he knew his acts were wrong.

Her pain

After she became intimate with her teacher, the girl became conscious of her looks and she started to diet.

The stress of school and keeping their relationship secret also took a toll on her.

When he got married, she became depressed and suicidal. She felt angry and scratched herself till she bled.

During their relationship, she suffered psychological distress, harbouring feelings of disgust, guilt, shame and self-blame, with "strong intrusive memories of the (sex) acts".

In November, she was admitted to hospital for medical complications and being a suicide risk.

She was diagnosed with "major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia nervosa".

KEPT IN TOUCH

The accused and the victim kept in touch with text messages after his marriage and during her time in hospital.

In one of their chats, she asked him if she could tell the doctors and therapists about their relationship.

He agreed that she could do so if it would help her recovery, but told her not to reveal too many details that would identify him.

He later changed his mind and asked her not to disclose their relationship as the police would be alerted and this would hurt his family and career.

But she later told her therapists about the incidents. Her father made a police report on Feb 6 and the accused was arrested the next day.

He was suspended from his job on half-pay three days later and resigned in March.

The victim has taken a year off her studies to recover from her psychiatric condition.

Teacher predators

MAY 20

Physics teacher Paul Tan Sze Aik, 37, was convicted of sexual offences with a boy, then 14.

They met when the boy accepted Tan's Facebook friend request - made under an alias - in November 2012. Tan told the minor he was 19.

They engaged in sexual activities the next month. The boy made a police report on Jan 3 last year.

Tan will be back in court today. His passport has been impounded.

FEB 25

Yeo Chang Yong, 30, was sentenced to 26 months' jail for sexual exploitation of two of his students, then aged 14 and 15.

Yeo was posted as a contract teacher to his victims' school in 2009.He committed the offences the following year after completing his postgraduate diploma at the National Institute of Education.

Yeo pleaded guilty to two charges of having sex with the 15-year-old and admitted to fondling the 14-year-old.

FEB 19

A 42-year-old teacher pleaded guilty to committing indecent acts on a 13-year-old boy.

They met in early 2012 when the boy was a Primary 6 pupil in the school where she taught.

That October, she kissed him on the lips and gave him a love bite on his shoulder. She did the same on two more occasions.

The married mother of four was sentenced to six months' jail.

This article was first published on June 18, 2014.
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