Teacher jailed six months over indecent acts on boy, 13

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

Describing the case as one involving "the sexual grooming of a young victim by a teacher", District Judge Ng Peng Hong decided that a jail sentence was the appropriate punishment.

Not only did the woman, who had kissed the student and given him love bites, breach her duty to the school and his parents, there was also the need to protect the young and vulnerable, he added.

Defence counsel Peter Fernando asked the court to consider just a fine or probation. He said the married woman, who has four children of her own, had been suffering from a major depressive disorder. But the judge said that there was no psychiatric evidence of "a causal link" between her illness and what she did with the boy.

The two met in early 2012 because the boy, then in Primary 6, was in the same football team as her son. She also taught his two sisters dancing at the school, which is in the west of Singapore.

They started chatting on Facebook. Then in October and November that year, he played truant on four occasions to go with her to the movies, Sentosa and the Botanic Gardens.

It was in the parks where she would kiss him on the lips and give him love bites on the neck and shoulder. It was after a trip to Botanic Gardens that the boy's mother spotted a love bite.

That was when he revealed his relationship with the teacher. His parents informed the school and went to the police.

The teacher was suspended and charged in court.

The woman, who pleaded guilty earlier this month, 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.

khush@sph.com.sg

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