Male teacher convicted of sex with boy

Male teacher convicted of sex with boy

SINGAPORE - A physics teacher, who befriended a then 14-year-old boy on Facebook, yesterday became the second man to be convicted of sexual offences with the teenager.

Paul Tan Sze Aik, 37, used the moniker "Alegon Kenny Lonewolf" to meet new friends online - even though he had another Facebook account in his own name.

He pleaded guilty to three of six charges - two of committing an obscene act and one involving oral sex.

Last month, undergraduate Suhaimi Shamsudin, 24, filed a notice of appeal against his 12-month jail sentence for two counts of sex with the same boy.

Tan was 35 when he sent a friend request to the teen in November 2012.

The minor accepted and the duo began communicating on the social networking website and on Skype. The teacher introduced himself as Shawn and told the minor he was 19.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said that on Dec 2 that year, Tan picked up the boy from the Bishan bus interchange at about 4pm. They had a meal before going to his flat.

He left the teen alone for a few hours to run errands, then returned and took him to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, they returned to Tan's flat.

At about midnight, the duo proceeded to Tan's bed, where he hugged and kissed the minor, who consented to their sexual activities. The next day, Tan left for an overseas trip and they did not contact each other again.

The incidents came to light when the boy, uneasy about his homosexual inclination and sexual experiences, confided in a police officer he had befriended.

He made a police report on Jan 3 last year, stating that he had engaged in "unnatural sex with two male subjects" between October and December 2012.

Tan, represented by Yusfiyanto Yatiman, will be back in court on June 18. His passport has been impounded.

The maximum penalty for committing an obscene act is a $5,000 fine and two years' jail. For sexual penetration of a person below 16, Tan could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

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


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