CNA – A teacher in Singapore was charged yesterday with trying to procure an indecent act a 14-year-old boy via WhatsApp.
The 63-year-old man was given one count under the Children and Young Persons Act of attempting to procure the commission of an indecent act with a young person.
His name and the victim’s name were redacted from court documents, and the judge imposed a gag order on anything that could identify the victim.
The teacher allegedly approached the teenage student at about 10.50pm on November 28 last year.
He was charged from his place of remand. The police prosecutor asked for him to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), but the judge rejected this application.
The accused said his mother was very old and he was worried that “something untoward will happen to her” if she stayed alone with the domestic helper.
He was offered bail of SGD20,000 and told not to contact the victim, any other students who are in the victim’s age group, or young people.
“Do you have other students of that age? I suggest you do not be in any more contact with students of this age,” said District Judge Terence Tay.
Judge Tay also told the accused to attend IMH or a private psychiatrist on his own, to find out if he has an underlying medical condition.
The teacher said he would delete the contacts of all the young students he knew, as well as his social media accounts. He will return to court next month.
According to web searches, the teacher has worked at secondary schools and had previously been given a Long Service Medal by Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
If convicted of attempting to procure the commission of an indecent act with a young person, he can be jailed for up to five years, fined up to SGD10,000, or both.
