Former teacher sentenced to jail and caning for molesting eight-year-old pupil

SINGAPORE - During a weekend tuition class, a teacher asked one of the pupils to go to the back of the room to do some reading.

He followed the eight-year-old girl, made her stand next to him and touched her private parts through her clothes, while the other pupils continued with their work, oblivious to what had happened.

On Tuesday, the former primary school teacher, 27, was sentenced to a year in jail and three strokes of the cane, after pleading guilty to molesting the child on Oct 19 last year.

The court heard that the incident took place between 9.15am and 12.15pm, when the child was attending a weekly tuition class held in a primary school in Jurong West.

It is understood that the offender, then employed by the Education Ministry, was conducting the lesson beyond his regular teaching duties, under a scheme run by a self-help group.

The girl was initially too scared to report the crime.

She finally told her mother about two weeks later, when asked why she did not want to continue attending the class.

For molesting a girl under the age of 14, the man could have been jailed up to five years, caned and fined.

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