SINGAPORE, April 22 — A male teacher at a secondary school who would invite his students to his house and perform sexual acts on them was sentenced to jail for six years and six months today.

The 36-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, had pleaded guilty to one count of outrage of modesty, one count of sexual exploitation and seven counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 16.

Nineteen other similar charges were taken into consideration for the sentence.

The court heard that between 2016 and 2017, the man, who was diagnosed with paedophilia in Oct 2017, approached several students in his school to come over to his house.

In one such instance in May 2016, the man approached a Secondary 2 boy, whom he had previously taught, while the boy was serving detention for circulating obscene images on his handphone.

The man invited the boy, then aged 14, to come over to his house the next day to watch pornography together.

While the boy initially refused, he later agreed after the man agreed not to tell anyone about their plan and promised to pay the boy S$50 (RM152) for coming over.

The following day, the boy went over to the man’s house, where they watched pornography together.

The man also performed a sexual act on the boy and paid him S$50 as agreed.

This arrangement continued for almost one and a half years, with the man paying the boy between S$50 to S$300 each time he came over.

Other victims

Sometime in July 2016, the man invited another male student to his house to play video games on his Wii console.

Both he and the student, who was 13 at that time, went to his house after school and played video games in the man’s bedroom.

Sometime during the gaming session, the man carried the boy onto his lap and started moving back and forth. Feeling uncomfortable, the boy then stood up.

Court documents did not state if the boy left immediately after the incident.

In another instance in August 2017, the man taught a lesson at the school’s computer lab. When the session in the computer lab ended, the students made their way to another classroom except for one boy who stayed behind.

The man approached the boy and asked if he wanted to come over to his house. The boy, then aged 13, refused and walked towards the door of the lab.

While he was walking, he felt the man poke the boy’s buttocks from behind him with his finger several times. Scared, the boy did not question the man and exited the computer lab to join his classmates in the next room to continue the lesson.

After the end of the lesson, the man asked the boy again if he wanted to go to the man’s house. The boy refused and left the classroom immediately.

The man continued to ask the boy to come over to his house after the end of school that day.

The man’s offences eventually came to light when the boy reported the matter to his form teacher.

For the outrage of modesty of a minor, the man could have been jailed for up to five years and received a fine, or caning, or a combination of these punishments.

For each count of sexual penetration with a minor under 16, the man could have received a jail term of up to 10 years, received a fine, or both.

For sexual exploitation of a young person, the man could have received a fine of up to S$10,000 or be imprisoned up to five years, or both.

In the case of a second or subsequent conviction, he could have received a fine of up to S$20,000 or be jailed up to seven years or both. — TODAY