Ex-secondary school teacher, 41, accused of kissing and hugging student, 14, girl would call him ‘Daddy’
A former school teacher is accused of making romantic advances towards a Secondary 2 female student, including hugging and kissing her forehead and cheeks.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the accused is a 41-year-old man, who was a teacher at a secondary school at the time of the alleged offences. He faces four charges, including violating the Children and Young Persons Act. The man pleaded not guilty.
The judge will deliver his verdict on April 28.
Allegedly addressed student as “Dearest daughter”
The female student was between the age of 13 and 14 years old at the time of the alleged offences. She cannot be named due to a gag order.
The man taught the girl in an unspecified subject in the first half of 2022, and between September 2022 and January 2023, the pair often communicated on WhatsApp. The student would call the accused “Dearest daddy” among other terms, and he addressed her as “Dearest daughter”.
Prosecution records show that the accused referred to the girl as “Dearest daughter” on 94 occasions in their chat history. The messages also contained 76 declarations of love and 24 instances in which he praised her physical appearance.
The prosecution added that the accused began to make physical contact with the student in August 2022, including touching her hands or face, and patting her head. Between September 2022 and November 2022, the accused allegedly hugged and kissed the girl’s forehead and cheeks multiple times, and touched her stomach over her shirt.
On one occasion in November 2022, the accused left the school with the girl to buy materials needed for a competition, of which she was a participant.
After consuming lunch in the car at a multi-storey carpark, the accused suggested the girl move to the back seat with him. As the girl was sitting on his thigh, he hugged her and she kissed his cheek.
One morning in January 2023, he embraced the girl near the school hall and kissed her forehead. The teacher also said “I love you” and “I miss you” to her several times, to which the girl reciprocated by repeating the same terms of endearment.
The prosecution alleged that the teacher told the student that he had not engaged in sexual intercourse with his wife for about two years. He expressed his wish to date the girl and eventually marry her.
The prosecution also argued that the accused was unhappy in his marriage, accusing him of seducing the victim to satisfy his psychological and sexual desires.
Victim instructed to chat in disappear mode
Upon learning that the female student was addressing the accused as “Daddy”, the teacher’s superior issued a warning on Nov 16, 2022.
Believing such terms were inappropriate for a teacher-student relationship, the superior requested the teacher to “keep his distance” from the student.
Despite the warning, the teacher continued staying in contact with the victim. He instructed the girl to delete all messages and photos between them in the event their relationship was uncovered during phone checks.
The accused also requested they move their conversations to Instagram, using the platform’s vanish mode — where messages would disappear after a user closes the chat.
Accused’s attitude towards girl suddenly flipped
In her testimony, the girl stated that in May 2023, the accused’s attitude suddenly turned cold, and he told her that they could no longer be as close as before. He accused her of having high expectations and mental issues, avoiding the girl whenever he walked past her.
This led to the girl feeling “devastated”, which in turn affected her academic grades. In the subsequent months, she heard rumours that the man had an affection for patting female students’ heads and had a bias for girls. She then realised she may have been sexually groomed.
The victim subsequently reached out to another girl she believed the teacher was biased towards, and suggested they report him to the school principal.
Hand-holding messages referred to “secret handshake”: accused
During cross-examination, the man claimed the hand-holding mentioned in texts referred to his “secret handshake” with the female student, and claimed the accusations of holding her face actually meant he used a piece of paper to lift her face.
However, the prosecution dismissed his claims, labelling them as “insulting” and “obvious untruths”.
In response to Shin Min’s queries, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Education (MOE) stated that the accused was suspended in October 2023 and is no longer teaching. Employee misconduct will be treated seriously, and disciplinary action will be taken against those who fail to comply with behavioural and disciplinary standards, including dismissal.
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