A former secondary school teacher in Singapore has been jailed for nine months after targeting three teenage girls by attempting to engage in sexual activities with them on three separate occasions in 2021.
Two of his victims were his former students, while the third was still studying at his school when he targeted her, reported The Straits Times (ST).
Source: Ahmed Siddiqui on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.
The 33-year-old Singaporean man — whose name is subject to a gag order protecting the victims — began teaching at the school in 2017 and regularly advised student councillors, the court heard.
He often accepted follow requests from students on his personal Instagram account.
This is how he contacted the first two victims — by sending messages to them over the social media app, using its “vanish mode” so his messages would disappear.
Screenshot from Instagram
Both victims were his former students, having taught the first one in Secondary One and the second one in Secondary Four.
Both girls subsequently left his school before he started messaging them in 2021.
The first victim was 16 years old when she received sexually suggestive messages from him in April 2021 after they reconnected online.
This included asking her to “fantasise” about him.
He also repeatedly suggested that they become “friends with benefits”. “The implication being that they would meet regularly to engage in… sexual acts with each other,” said the prosecution.
She rebuffed his advances, told him to stop and reported him to a former teacher.
In September 2021, the man contacted the second victim, then 17 years old.
He asked her to share her “sexual kink” with him, and told her that he was willing to have sex with her if she was also open to the idea.
He also suggested renting a room with her.
She also refused, cut off contact with him and later reported his behaviour to a former teacher.
The third victim, a 15-year-old student councillor, was still studying at his school when he invited her to meet on 17 Oct 2021.
He booked a hotel room in Tanjong Pagar, where they met.
There, he tried to kiss her while they sat on a bed, but she pushed him and turned away.
He also asked her to perform a sexual act on him and placed the student’s hand on his private parts, but she resisted and pulled her hand away.
He did not proceed further, stopping after realising his actions had made the victim feel uncomfortable.
He later drove her home.
However, he continued to send her inappropriate messages, prompting her to delete her Instagram account.
He left the school at the end of 2021, but in early 2022, he apologised to her via a Telegram message. He also revealed that reports had been made about his messages to other students.
She then told the school about what she had gone through.
In court on Monday (11 Aug), Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Wong said the third victim has since struggled with stress, often crying in school.
This has caused her to take 30 days of medical leave per semester and sleeping pills to cope with the stress.
She is also unable to form romantic relationships.
“This incident has severely impacted her ability to study and will have lasting ramifications on her prospects,” Mr Wong added.
The former teacher eventually pleaded guilty to four charges under the Children and Young Persons Act, including attempting to procure the commission of an indecent act by a young person of 16 or 17 years old.
The prosecution referred to him as a “serial predator”.
He was sentenced to nine months in prison, with his sentence set to begin on 1 Sept. His bail was set at S$20,000.
The Ministry of Education confirmed to ST that he has not worked as a teacher since March 2022.
Also read: Married teacher in S’pore appeals jail sentence for affair with 11-year-old, claims ‘true love’
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Featured image from MS News and adapted from nuttapong punna’s Images on Canva. Photo on the right for illustration purposes only.