A 33-year-old Singaporean man, a married secondary school teacher, was sentenced to three years and seven months’ jail after pleading guilty to two counts of sexually penetrating a minor, a 14-year-old girl who was his student.
- He pleaded guilty in the State Courts of Singapore. He after pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually penetrating a minor and one count of sexually exploiting a child. Four other similar charges involving the same girl were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
- The man was the girl’s teachers since she was a Secondary 1. After they started exchanging text messages, they started discussing personal issues and became closer over time and exchanged sexually charged text messages daily.
- The girl was infatuated with the man and he took her back to his flat and asked her to perform oral sex on him. On another occasion, he picked her up and they went to his flat where he performed oral sex on the girl and he also sexually penetrated her.
- It is unclear whether he was represented by a Criminal Defence Lawyer during the presentation of his mitigation plea and when the Court imposed the sentence.
Sexual penetration of minor under 16 is an offence under section 376A of the Penal Code (Cap 224) which states:
376A.—(1) Any person (A) who —
(a) penetrates, with A’s penis, the vagina, anus or mouth, as the case may be, of a person under 16 years of age (B);
(b) sexually penetrates, with a part of A’s body (other than A’s penis, if a man) or anything else, the vagina or anus, as the case may be, of a person under 16 years of age (B);
(c) causes a man under 16 years of age (B) to penetrate, with B’s penis, the vagina, anus or mouth, as the case may be, of another person including A; or
(d) causes a person under 16 years of age (B) to sexually penetrate, with a part of B’s body (other than B’s penis, if a man) or anything else, the vagina or anus, as the case may be, of any person including A or B,
shall be guilty of an offence.
A person who commits this against a person who is under 14 years of age shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 20 years and shall also be liable to fine or to caning.
More information on the case may be found here.