Teacher pleads guilty to sex with 14-year-old student

A teacher told his wife that he was giving 'private tuition' but was actually having sex with a 14-year-old student.

On Dec 23, the teacher, now 41, pleaded guilty in a district court to having sex with a minor. He will be sentenced on Jan 17 next year. The man cannot be named to protect the identity of the student, a minor at that time.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kavitha Uthrapathy said that the man, then 38 and married with a child, bought gifts for the student and told her how pretty she was while on a school trip to Korea.

She agreed to be his girlfriend and they would meet and talk initially. He would pick her up in his car and send her home after school. He also tutored her for free. He lied about an unhappy marriage and that his wife was filing for a divorce.


They first had sex in the CCA room some time in November or December 2007 before school started at 7.30am. Then, on her 15th birthday, he bought her a black dress and a pair of sandals and also booked a room at Orchid Country Club where they spent the afternoon. On other occasions, they had sex in his car at a car park in Upper Seletar Reservoir Park.

In 2008, the school received a complaint about inappropriate behaviour between the teacher and the student while on a school trip to the United States.

He assured the principal and vice-principal that he was like a father to her. However, he was issued a warning letter for impropriety. He then became depressed and was granted medical leave till he was transferred to another secondary school in January 2009. The relationship continued all this while.

A year later in January 2010, his wife was on maternity leave after having their second child. She used his cellphone to take pictures of the newborn and discovered intimate text messages to the student and an ex-student.

He told her that they were his students and promised to stop giving them private tuition. The two teenagers also denied being in a relationship with her husband.

However, the younger teen felt let down that the wife had a second child and that the man was also having sex with the ex-student. She broke off the relationship.

In April last year, the man's wife told the student's mother about her suspicions. Her father then lodged a police report.

Source: ST Online