Ex-lecturer on the run for 17 years found guilty of molesting five boys

Chan Cheng, now 59, molested five teenage boys at a school camp in 1999. Chan, who was a senior psychology lecturer at the time, fled to Malaysia that year after he was arrested and released on bail. He was sent back to Singapore in 2016.
Chan Cheng, now 59, molested five teenage boys at a school camp in 1999. Chan, who was a senior psychology lecturer at the time, fled to Malaysia that year after he was arrested and released on bail. He was sent back to Singapore in 2016. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

A former National University of Singapore (NUS) senior psychology lecturer fled to Malaysia after molesting five teenage boys at a school camp and was on the run for 17 years before he was sent back here in December 2016.

After a trial, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan yesterday found Chan Cheng, now 59, guilty of five counts of molestation. Seven other molestation charges involving four other boys are still pending.

The teenagers were in Secondary 1 when Chan molested them at the Guillemard Camp in Old Airport Road during a three-day school camp in June 1999.

Chan failed to turn up in court on Nov 29 that year, and a warrant of arrest was issued against him.

The former president of the Singapore Psychological Society later had his contract terminated by NUS after he failed to turn up for work.

Chan was reported to have had his own company known as Procamps to teach study skills to youngsters. He also organised camps for children during school holidays.

During the trial, a man who had been on the 1999 trip told the court how he had been sitting on a bed chatting with a friend when Chan started massaging his thigh.

The man told the court that he pushed Chan's hand away when it moved to his private parts. The victim's friend, who also testified, said he was shocked at what he had witnessed.

Three other former campers also told the court during the trial that Chan had touched their genitals that night.

The fifth victim said that Chan had targeted him on the second day of the camp by applying powder onto his private parts before molesting him.

A Secondary 2 student leader saw Chan touching one of the teenagers' private parts when he entered a boys' bunk on the second night. Unsure of what to do, the student leader asked Chan about a debriefing session and left before alerting a teacher the next day.

The teacher interviewed one of the victims who revealed that Chan had also targeted his other schoolmates. The teacher then told the school principal, who lodged a police report. Officers arrested Chan on Nov 27, 1999.

He was released on bail and was supposed to turn up in court two days later, when he absconded and fled to Malaysia.

Chan, who obtained his PhD from Oxford University, was last seen at NUS on Nov 23, 1999.

It was not stated how he was caught in Malaysia, but he was finally sent back to Singapore on Dec 7, 2016. Chan is now out on bail of $60,000 and is due back in court next Monday.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 23, 2019, with the headline Ex-lecturer on the run for 17 years found guilty of molesting five boys. Subscribe