SINGAPORE — A suspended primary school teacher who molested a schoolboy five times in a Head of Department room was sentenced to four years' jail
In sentencing, Senior District Judge Bala Reddy said that educators hold"a position of unparalleled trust and influence in the lives of impressionable young children".
The names of the school, the man and the victim cannot be published because of gag orders protecting the boy's identity. At trial, the prosecution charged that the teacher had coached witnesses, including fellow teachers, on what to say. But the defence, Mr Gino Hardial Singh, objected to the prosecution's description of"witness tampering".
"In my view, this was indicative of the accused's lack of integrity and remorse; despite having been caught once, he nonchalantly persisted in his actions so that he could establish contact with a witness who was due to take the stand that very month," said Judge Reddy. After some probing by the prosecutor, the accused admitted that he had obtained the screenshot while updating one of the witnesses named Ms J on the evidence being given by a prosecution witness.
"In other words, their evidence that the accused had been seated at the old cubicle in 2018 was nothing more than a parroting of what the accused had taught them, and I declined to accept their evidence," said the judge. "I was of the view that the extent of the accused's cover-ups and lies had amounted to corroborative evidence of his guilt," said Judge Reddy.
Another such lie was the man's claim that he had moved into the new cubicle in September 2018, which was contradicted not only by the prosecution witnesses but his own witnesses.
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