After a student passed away, a former teacher harassed the principal of his school by sending death threats. He additionally sent another lecturer anonymous text messages, taunting her about her teaching ability.
Now a private tutor, 46-year-old Lee Lit Meing pleaded guilty on Monday (19 Sep) to attempting to cause distress via WhatsApp messages and a phone call.
The prosecution has called for three weeks’ jail for his offence. He will return to court next month for his sentencing.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that while working under the principal, Lee was unhappy with his management style and saw him as a difficult boss. The name of the institution was not disclosed due to a gag order.
After leaving the school in 2017, he started sending anonymous messages to the principal via WhatsApp, letters, and e-mail.
He allegedly referenced “significant events involving the school” to harass the principal on at least three occasions between 2018 and 2020.
Shortly after, Lee discovered reports of a fatal incident involving a student from the school and blamed it on the principal.
He then placed 20 similar anonymous letters in official NUS envelopes. This was to make it more difficult for authorities to trace them back to him.
The letters contained the following words:
Heavy is the head which weareth the crown. Eyes tainted with guilt. Tongue defiled by lies. Bloody are thy hands which are stained with a child’s blood.
He proceeded to send 19 of them to staff at four schools and the remaining one to a church elder.
On one occasion, Lee travelled from his home in Boon Keng to Sengkang. There, he found an unattended public phone and used it to call the principal and said, “You have blood on your hands.”
He additionally stated,
You are a murderer. You killed a child. You are lucky that (redacted) forgave you.
Stunned, the principal informed the caller – whose voice he was unable to recognise – that the incident was under police investigation. As such, it was inappropriate for him to comment.
He then hung up and told a colleague about the incident, who said the school had received 10 anonymous letters that same day.
Reading one of the letters caused the principal to realise it seemed like an epitaph from a tombstone. He was informed that the first line of the letter was a quote from Shakespeare’s Henry IV with the other lines blaming him for the student’s demise.
In addition, the last line was reportedly a death threat which implied that the principal was born in the 1970s and would pass away that year.
According to CNA, this caused the principal to feel “devastated, scared and threatened” — he subsequently lodged a police report.
As a result, the principal grew more cautious when receiving calls or texts from anonymous numbers. He would also ensure that someone was accompanying his children to and from school.
In addition to the threats made to the principal, Lee also sent anonymous WhatsApp messages to a lecturer at an institution, making remarks such as,
Your… stint is testament that those who can’t do, teach. But, come to think of it, you can’t even teach to save your life.
Lee was reportedly a trainee at the undisclosed institution.
On 19 Sep, Lee pleaded guilty to two charges under the Protection from Harassment Act related to two victims — the principal and another lecturer from another educational institution.
The prosecution called for 3 weeks’ jail, noting that harassment cases committed anonymously produce “greater uneasiness” in victims and hence would ordinarily warrant a jail sentence.
Lee will return to court on 5 Oct for sentencing.
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Featured image adapted from English First and by MS News.
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