Teacher who had sex with student, 13, also filmed her and mother in shower
Teacher, 30, courted student, 13, and had sexual relationship with her
She was just 13 years old but that didn't stop her 30-year-old school teacher from courting and having sex with her.
They went on to have numerous sexual encounters in rented cars, hotel rooms and her home over the next five years before breaking up.
Unknown to her, he was secretly filming some of these trysts.
He also rented a room from her mother at her home, claiming that he needed a place to stay as he was undergoing divorce proceedings.
After he moved in, he secretly filmed the girl and her mother while they were showering.
The girl found the recordings only when she was making sure he did not take any of her belongings just before he moved out after about nine years.
She then made a police report.
Yesterday, the teacher, 42, pleaded guilty to having sex with the underage girl, performing obscene acts on her and secretly filming the girl and her mother in the shower.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh called for the teacher to be jailed between five and seven years.
We are not naming anyone due to a gag order to protect the victims' identities.
It is stated in court papers that the accused was the girl's history and English teacher in 2003.
He got close to her when he gave her and a few other students free tuition in history.
In June that year, he began courting her and enlisted her help in marking papers.
It was during this period that the teacher, then 30, had sex with the girl, then 13 and a virgin, for the first time.
It is an offence in Singapore for a man to have sex with a girl under 16.
The girl's father died later that year.
The teacher continued to court her and convinced her to be in a relationship and spend time with him, buying her whatever she wanted.
TUITION
He got to know the girl's mother while tutoring her in maths and science at her home the following year.
Between March and April 2004, he offered to rent a room in their flat.
The girl's mother agreed as she and her daughter were facing financial difficulties. The accused moved into the master bedroom.
The girl hid her relationship with the teacher from her mother out of embarrassment and for fear of being scolded.
In 2006, the girl tried to end the relationship but the teacher refused. Instead, he increased his interference with her social life.
They continued to have sex until 2007 when the girl again called for a break-up. They finally ended their relationship a year later even though the accused continued staying with the girl and her mother.
In mid 2009, as the girl was showering, she discovered the teacher's mobile phone, with its recording function switched on, in the bathroom. She deleted the recording and told her mother what had happened.
The girl's mother confronted the teacher and asked him to move out. He begged to stay and said he would not do it again.
But he went back on his word and secretly filmed the girl and her mother in the shower on separate occasions in 2010.
In July 2013, the divorcé was asked to move out as the girl's older brother was getting married and planned to move in with the family.
That was when the girl discovered recordings of her sexual encounters with the accused. She made a police report in August.
After officers arrested the teacher, they retrieved more video recordings of the girl and her mother in the shower.
Yesterday, he turned up in court and admitted to two counts of carnal connection with the underage girl, two counts of committing an obscene act on her and two counts of insulting a woman's modesty.
Thirty-six other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing, which is expected to take place on Dec 30.
He violated everyone's trust in him
The teacher violated the trust and confidence placed on him by the girl, her mother and the school, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh in his submissions yesterday.
DPP Koh added the teacher had actively courted the girl, despite fully knowing that she was underage and was his student.
He also said that not only did the teacher commit the sex acts on the girl, he also went on to intrude on her privacy, and even her mother's privacy, before repeating his offences a year later.
DPP Koh urged the court to impose a jail term of between five and seven years.
Defence lawyer Leslie Robert said in mitigation that this was not a run-of-the-mill case where the accused had acted as a predator for one-off sexual gratification.
DIVORCED
Mr Robert said his client, who divorced his wife in 2003, entered a "stable", five-year relationship with the girl.
The accused has two children, aged 15 and 19.
Mr Robert also cited an e-mail sent by the girl to the accused in 2009, a year after they broke up. In it, she thanked him for what he did for her over the course of their relationship.
"I guess we shouldn't have started in the first place, and I shouldn't have expected so much from you right from the start," the girl had written.
"All I want to say is that I have not regretted meeting you. I appreciate all that you have done for me."
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