SINGAPORE, Nov 17 — A former secondary school principal who used his position of influence to molest teenage boys in his office was sentenced today to three years and eight months’ jail and seven strokes of the cane.

His seven victims were aged 13 to 15 when he committed the offences in 2017.

The 48-year-old Singaporean man pleaded guilty in August to three charges of outrage of modesty involving three boys despite initially planning to contest the charges.

Another eight similar charges, including those related to the other four boys, were taken into consideration for sentencing by District Judge Edgar Foo.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the victims’ identities, has not worked for the Ministry of Education since January 2018. 

The secondary school, located in the northeastern region of Singapore, cannot be named either.

Behind closed doors

Between August and October 2017, the principal abused his authority to commit a spate of sexual offences against the students, Deputy Public Prosecutors Sruthi Boppana and Mark Yeo said.

These students were all at-risk youth who faced problems within their families or had disciplinary records and were often called to the school’s general office to serve detention or to have disciplinary action meted out against them. 

The principal would bring these students into his office, where he would close the door and touch the students on their arms and thighs while talking to them. 

He then moved to other acts such as pinching their private parts over their shorts or sliding his hands into their underwear to touch their private parts. 

The principal’s offences were only discovered after two victims reported the matter to the school staff.

‘Entire education system brought into disrepute’:DPPs

In sentencing today, District Judge Foo noted that the principal’s offence was not a brief touch of the victims’ private parts — he had fondled one victim for about a minute.

He added that the charges also involved more than one victim. 

The prosecutors highlighted the authority the principal had over victims. 

Not only were the students unable to refuse the principal’s invitation to enter his office, they were powerless to resist him when he molested them, the prosecutors said. 

"Offences committed by senior educators against their students are especially egregious because such persons are expected to care for and nurture those under their watch,” they wrote in their sentencing submissions. 

The victims’ disciplinary records also made them less likely to be believed by other staff members when reporting the principal’s actions.

"Offences committed by (senior educators) bring the entire education system into disrepute, and adversely affect the trust that parents place in the education system and the people who run it,” the prosecutors wrote.

Defence lawyers Gurdip Singh and Benjamin Sew admitted that the ex-principal had abused his position of trust.

Seeking a 17-months’ jail sentence, the lawyers argued that in two of the three charges, the offence was "brief and fleeting”.

They added that the man was a former top government scholar who had won multiple awards as an educator and "is deeply remorseful for having committed the offences”.

For each charge of molesting a minor under 14, the former principal could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three. 

For each charge of molesting those aged 14 or older, he could have been put behind bars for up to two years, fined, caned, or punished with any combination of the three. — TODAY