'Love bites' teacher gets six months

SINGAPORE - A 42-year-old teacher was jailed for six months yesterday for committing indecent acts on a 13-year-old from her school.

District Judge Ng Peng Hong said the love bites and kisses she gave the boy pointed to "the sexual grooming of a young victim by a teacher".

Given the need to protect the young and vulnerable, a jail sentence was appropriate, he explained.

Defence counsel Peter Fernando, who asked the court to consider just a fine or probation, said the woman had been suffering from a major depressive disorder.

But Judge Ng said that there was no psychiatric evidence of "a causal link" between her illness and what she did with the boy.

The teacher and the victim met in 2012 because the boy, who was then in Primary 6, was in the same football team as her son. She also taught his two sisters dance at the school in the west.

They chatted on Facebook and he played truant to go with her to the movies, Sentosa and the Botanic Gardens.

It was during such outings that she would kiss him and give him love bites on the neck and shoulder.

It was after a trip to the Botanic Gardens that the boy's mother spotted a love bite.

That was when the boy revealed his relationship with the teacher.

His parents told the school and went to the police.

The Malay-language teacher of 11 years was suspended and charged in court.

She pleaded guilty earlier this month. She cannot be named as it could lead to the identification of the minor.

She could have been jailed for up to five years or fined up to $10,000, or sentenced to both.

myp@sph.com.sg

This article by The Straits Times was published in MyPaper,  a free, bilingual newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.

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