Former PE teacher admits sexually abusing 14-year-old student in hotel

SINGAPORE: A former physical education (PE) teacher pursued his 14-year-old student romantically and took her to a hotel where he sexually abused her.

When the student later broke off the relationship, the teacher persistently questioned her school senior about her dating status, threatening self-harm.

The student eventually told her senior what had happened. The senior then informed a teacher, and a police report was made.

The 45-year-old Singaporean man pleaded guilty on Thursday (Jul 23) to three counts of sexual penetration of a minor, with another 12 charges to be taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court imposed gag orders on the identities of the victim and the man. The name of the school cannot be published as a result.

THE CASE

The court heard that the man was a teacher at a secondary school at the time of the offences in 2022 and 2023, with 18 years of teaching experience.

The victim, now 18, was between 14 and 15 years old at the time.

In 2022, the man was the victim’s PE teacher. They followed each other on Instagram.

In May that year, the man struck up a conversation with the victim on Instagram about books and writing, which the victim was passionate about.

After exchanging phone numbers, they began chatting on WhatsApp and Telegram.

The teacher chatted “enthusiastically” with her online, although he was reserved in person.

In July 2022, he began hinting to the victim that he was fond of her and confessed his romantic feelings.

The victim was shocked and did not know how to react. When the teacher asked her repeatedly to be his girlfriend, she said she was unsure and needed time to think.

Asked if it was wrong for a teacher to be ina relationship with a student, the man said it was not a problem, as long as it did not affect her studies.

The girl also voiced doubts about their 28-year age gap, but the man assured her that age was “not an issue”.

In August 2022, the man suggested that the victim go to his house, but she refused.

He then suggested meeting at a hotel. When the girl asked what they would do there, he said they could read, watch television or “hang out”.

Although she was reluctant and felt it was wrong, she trusted the man and was eventually convinced by him to meet at the hotel.

He arrived first, then arranged to meet the victim on the third floor, where he passed her a key card to the room.

Not wanting to be seen together, he instructed the girl to go to the room after he had entered.

When inside, the girl sat on a sofa and read a book. The man then sat beside her and became physically affectionate towards her, including putting his head on her lap and hugging and kissing her.

They left the room separately after about five hours.

Afterwards, the victim told the accused that she was willing to be in a relationship with him. She felt guilty as she had made him wait for an answer since July, and she also felt that acts like kissing should only take place within a relationship.

She had also become convinced that it was acceptable for her to enter into a relationship with the teacher.

The court heard that the man was “elated”. He was affectionate with the teen, calling her “baby” and “princess”, and speaking to her frequently about sex.

He told her that he wanted to have sex with her and would wait for her to turn 16.

The victim did not know how to respond at times when he discussed sexual topics with her and would avoid carrying on the conversation.

In the circumstances they were in, the victim was in a relationship that was exploitative of her, the court heard.

ANOTHER INCIDENT AT SAME HOTEL

Around Sep 11, 2022, the man arranged to meet the victim at the same hotel.

They entered separately, then sat on the bed and chatted. After kissing the girl, the man sexually abused her.

The victim pushed his hands away and told him to stop, but he persisted. Feeling frightened and uncomfortable, she pushed him away again.

She refused his requests for certain sex acts, but eventually agreed when he asked again. The teacher also performed a sex act on her.

Between their hotel visits, the pair continued to text each other and carried on their secret relationship.

The man bought the girl gifts, including flowers and a necklace.

In 2023, during a school camp, the teacher met her in a room where there were no cameras.

He molested her in the room but they soon left as the girl feared being discovered.

Before this incident, the man had also kissed the victim in the school’s PE room.

On Jan 29, 2023, the girl ended the relationship as she felt the man was becoming very possessive.

He was jealous of her male friends and wanted to control her social interactions. He also talked about marrying her, but she felt she was too young to think about marriage.

The man took the breakup badly, calling the victim, crying and screaming at her and threatening to pull out his hair.

Days later, he approached the victim’s friend, who was a year her senior in school.

He tried to find out information about the victim, such as if she was dating anyone. He also sent messages to the friend persistently and threatened to self-harm.

The senior told the victim what happened, and the victim then revealed that she had broken up with the teacher and they had been physically intimate.

The senior reported this to a teacher on Feb 7, 2023. The school management was informed, and the vice-principal confronted the accused.

He gave a written statement confessing that he and the victim had “made out” in hotel rooms, engaged in kissing, hugging and heavy petting.

However, he omitted the sexual penetration and also deleted messages between him and the victim on Telegram and other platforms.

The school informed the victim’s parents, and the victim’s mother lodged a police report on Feb 9, 2023.

During investigations, the man admitted to committing sexual acts on the girl.

IMPACT ON VICTIM

The victim was interviewed by the Child Guidance Clinic of the Institute of Mental Health in May 2023 and reported feeling sad, fearful and angry since the abuse.

She said she had suicidal thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks of the abuse.

She reported a loss of appetite and said she had been self-harming. She was also afraid of males and felt “dirty and guilty” for betraying her parents’ trust.

In a separate victim impact statement in December 2024, the girl said she felt anxious and scared when the case was first reported and felt that giving details to the police was akin to reliving the incident.

She said she had to cope with rumours about the relationship even after graduation, and that she felt emotionally disengaged with her friends and parents.

She eventually “gave up” explaining her point of view because she could not control the rumours that had spread.

She also had nightmares about the accused and felt overwhelmed with fear whenever she saw people who resembled him.

The accused has no prior convictions.

The defence lawyers sought an adjournment to amend the mitigation plea, after the accused decided to plead guilty, having initially contested certain parts of the statement of facts.

The case was adjourned to September. Sentencing arguments have yet to be heard in open court.

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