While working as a bus driver to ferry children with special needs, a man molested and took several obscene photos of them.
He also befriended the children’s domestic helpers, asking them to take lewd photos of their employers’ children.
On Monday (19 Dec), 68-year-old Gary Alexander Tan pleaded guilty to six charges including molestation, showing an obscene object to a young person, and insulting a woman’s modesty.
In court, the prosecution asked for up to about 15 years’ jail.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Tan was employed by a kindergarten and a school to transport children with special needs around 2009 and 2010.
Source: Loughborough University, for illustration purposes only
Although his contract ended in 2012, he continued to drive the children to and from school under private arrangements with their families.
In 2011, he drove a boy to kindergarten in the mornings, and to a school in the afternoons. The boy had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
The court heard that Tan found him “cute” and “soft-spoken”, and felt “attached” to him.
Sometime between 2013 and 2014, the boy was released early from kindergarten.
Tan then picked him up, but instead of sending him to school, he made a stop at a parking lot.
The victim, who was around four to six years old at that time, sat in the front passenger seat. Tan proceeded to kiss, hug, and molest the boy before making the latter perform a sex act on him.
He sexually abused the boy for 30 minutes before sending him to the school.
In 2013 or 2014, he committed the same acts against the boy.
Initially, the offences were reported when the child started displaying sexualised behaviour.
However, due to his autism, the boy was unable to talk about the offences Tan committed against him.
In 2017, Tan worked as a school bus driver to transport children who were allegedly abused. Some were staying with other relatives after being taken from their abusive parents.
During the interview with the company, they gave Tan a briefing on the behaviour required of their drivers. He accepted the requirements, and knew that the abused children were under care arrangements.
Based on his “positive attitude”, the company chose Tan for the job. Furthermore, he also offered to work extra hours if necessary.
In January that year, he preyed on an eight-year-old girl who was a victim of alleged physical abuse. She was staying with other relatives at the time.
While driving the girl to and from school, Tan parked his van in an outdoor parking lot.
Before molesting her, he gave her a drink and his iPad to play with. However, she refused to take off her bottoms.
Then, Tan videoed himself sexually assaulting her.
Later that month, he molested her again, kissing her and telling her that he missed her.
He told her that the incident was “between you and me”, and wanted her to be “happy” with him.
Tan also told her that he loved her, and asked if she felt the same. However, the girl giggled and replied that she did not know.
On one occasion, Tan told the victim not to tell anybody what happened before her grandfather came to pick her up.
Besides that, he also showed her a photo of himself clad in underwear, and a photo of a domestic helper named Emy performing a sex act on him.
Later, photos of the girl sleeping in his van and other photos of children he was transporting were discovered on his phone.
During his job as a bus driver, Tan befriended several domestic helpers. That was when he first met Emy.
She performed the sex act that was photographed between 2016 and 2017.
In May 2016, he contacted another helper named Ellah, asking if she wanted to get some food.
With her employer’s young daughter, she went to a car park where Tan parked his vehicle.
While Ellah ate behind his van, Tan offered to look after her employer’s daughter.
According to the prosecutor, he took the girl to the front of the van and snapped an upskirt photo of her. This was for “his own fetish” as he got a “thrill” out of it.
He also took several photos of himself kissing the girl on the lips.
Later, Ellah picked the girl up without knowing what had happened.
Among other helpers he befriended, he asked two to send him intimate photos, which they agreed. Tan also asked them to take photos of young girls’ private parts.
Only Emy, the helper he was in a sexual relationship with, agreed.
In another 22 occasions, Tan asked her to take and send him photos of her employer’s daughter naked or bathing. The girl had to assume certain poses in some pictures.
Additionally, she also sent him 51 photos of another naked girl and three photos of her employer’s young son.
In 2006, he had an affair with a woman and molested her daughter, who was between three and five years old then.
Besides these offences, he also took upskirt videos of women and girls around Singapore.
Tan’s crimes finally came to light when the eight-year-old girl told her relatives about the incident.
Her mother filed a police report in January 2017 and Tan was arrested.
Although he initially denied his wrongdoings, authorities confronted him with evidence.
The Straits Times (ST) reports that in court, the prosecution asked that Tan be sentenced to up to 14 years’ jail and 18 strokes of the cane.
However, as Tan is above the age of 50 and cannot be caned, the prosecution requested for an additional nine months behind bars.
This was because Tan’s offences were “truly sick and twisted”. They also happened over a long period of time and involved an abuse of trust.
In total, there were seven child victims and five adult victims.
The prosecutor also described Tan as “the stereotypical nightmare of any parent who has a young child”.
Tan will be sentenced on 27 Jan next year.
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Featured image by MS News.
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