Ex-teacher who molested 12-year-old girl appeals with smartwatch data, dismissed by judge
An ex-teacher in Singapore has been convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl who was having a sleepover at his home with his daughter.
The defendant and the victim’s mother were both teachers at the same school.
Their families lived in the same condominium block and were close, according to the judgement text made available on 9 Nov.
On the day of the incident, 27 Feb 2021, the two families had dinner together.
Afterwards, the victim went over to the defendant’s home for a sleepover with his eight-year-old daughter.
During the sleepover, the 12-year-old victim and her friend sat on the top bunk of the bunk bed in the latter’s room.
With their legs under a duvet, the two girls designed outfits on a mobile app called Combyne.
Ex-teacher molests girl in the same bed as his daughter
At sometime past midnight, the defendant stood beside the bunk bed at the victim’s right, a fact which the court documents called “undisputed”.
The ex-teacher then slipped his hand under the duvet and the victim’s shorts to touch her thigh. He then moved on to her genital area.
According to the 12-year-old, she did not inform her friend beside her despite the shock so as not to “scar” her.
She continued to design outfits on Combyne and told the defendant’s daughter that she was tired and they should go to sleep.
After leaving the home on the morning of 28 Feb 2021, the victim informed a close friend about the incident before telling her mother that evening.
She also wrote down an account of the incident in her notebook that was later given to her school’s vice-principal.
The victim made a longer written record on a note which she kept to herself.
Judge finds prosecution’s evidence convincing
In court, the District Judge found the victim’s evidence “unusually convincing” and consistent.
Her reporting of the incident to her friend and mother, as well as the two written accounts, also corroborated her evidence.
The District Judge further noted that she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the incident.
At trial, the defendant denied the victim’s allegations. He argued that he was not tall enough to touch the victim in the manner described.
He also noted inconsistencies in her evidence over aspects such as the duration of the molestation or the manner in which he touched her thigh.
In the case of the contradiction over the manner of contact, the victim remained consistent that the defendant touched her thigh before moving up to touch her vaginal area in a circular motion.
She was inconsistent over whether he touched her thigh in a circular or linear manner, which the judge found to be inconsequential.
The defence also argued that his daughter had not noticed anything unusual, and that his smartwatch proved he was asleep at 1.57am, when the victim claimed the sexual crime occurred.
In the verdict, the District Judge found that the defendant had failed to raise reasonable doubt against the victim’s evidence.
As such, the judge found him guilty of outrage of modesty in March 2024 and sentenced him to 23 months’ jail and three strokes of the cane.
No proof of smartwatch data accuracy that night
Following the sentencing, the defendant appealed the case by arguing that the District Judge erred in her treatment of his smartwatch data, as well as on the victim’s inconsistencies in evidence.
According to the watch’s heart rate data, the defendant was in light sleep from 1.12am to 1.54am and then deep sleep from 1.55am to 2.03am.
He then switched between the sleep states until 7.46am.
However, Justice See Kee Oon — who dismissed the appeal on 6 Sept 2024 — agreed with the District Judge that there was no proof of the reliability of the data as a record of his activities that night.
“The appellant did not adduce any evidence to advance his claim that the Watch data was an accurate reflection of his state of sleep.”
Justice See noted that even assuming the watch data was accurate, it cohered with “undisputed evidence” that the defendant was in his daughter’s bedroom from 11.27pm to 1.03am.
As such, it would only prove that the victim got the exact time of the incident wrong.
The judge also agreed with the assessment that the victim’s inconsistencies in evidence were ultimately minor.
He found her testimony “largely consistent in relation to the material facts”.
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