SINGAPORE, July 30 — A former psychology lecturer from the National University of Singapore, who fled the country for 17 years after he was caught molesting several Secondary 1 boys, was sentenced to three years and seven months’ jail yesterday.
Chan Cheng, a 59-year-old Singaporean, was found guilty last week of five charges of outrage of modesty relating to five victims. His offences took place in 1999 during a three-day school camp, where he worked as a consultant.
Yesterday, seven other similar charges relating to four other victims were taken into consideration for sentencing.
While the charges carry the possibility of caning, those above 50 years old cannot be caned by law.
District Judge Shaifuddin Saruwan imposed an extra five months’ jail in lieu of at least 10 strokes of the cane, noting that Chan escaped caning only because he had absconded.
Chan’s lawyer, Ramesh Tiwary, told the court that his client will be appealing against the conviction and sentence.
He remains out on an increased bail of S$90,000 (RM270,625) while waiting for the appeal.
District Judge Shaifuddin also ordered him to be electronically tagged and to report to his investigation officer every week.
During sentencing, the judge noted that Chan had “taken advantage of and exploited” the vulnerability of his 13-year-old victims.
He said: “As a camp commandant, there was an abuse of trust and the authority vested in you by the victims’ school and parents. This was particularly egregious given the context. There was also premeditation in your actions.”
Deputy Public Prosecutor James Chew, who had sought four years and two months’ jail, revealed that Chan illegally left for Malaysia using his brother’s passport before he could be charged for his offences.
Chan remained there for 17 years before he was finally arrested there and sent back to Singapore in December 2016.
In mitigation, Tiwary said that Chan’s record up until 1999 “was really sterling” and urged District Judge Shaifuddin to consider what he was doing while in Malaysia. However, he did not elaborate in court on what Chan did there.
Tiwary added that the trial and the publicity that followed had a devastating effect on Chan, especially after the conviction. “He was chased and harassed,” the lawyer added.
What Chan did
Chan molested the boys during the three-day camp from June 28 to 30, 1999. He was in charge of the camp programme and slept in the same bunk as the victims.
On the first night, one of them was sitting on the upper bunk, chatting with his friend, when Chan asked if he could sleep and began massaging his left thigh.
His friend corroborated the evidence, saying that he saw Chan touching the boy’s thighs and private parts.
On the second day of the camp, after a shower, Chan targeted a second boy and rubbed the boy’s private parts with powder after asking him if he used it.
A third boy said that Chan molested him in a shower cubicle, after the boy asked for help to open his soap bottle.
On the third day of the camp, a Secondary 2 student leader who witnessed one of the incidents told the camp commander what had happened.
The teacher interviewed the boys and called the school principal, who then took the boys to the police station and made a report.
Chan’s contract with the university was terminated after he did not show up for work. — TODAY
