Ex-department head of primary school in Singapore faces voyeurism charges

SINGAPORE: On Monday (Oct 12), a 45-year-old man who used to be a department head at a primary school in Singapore faced a charge of voyeurism.

The Singaporean national has been charged in connection with an incident in 2023 when he was said to have intentionally recorded on video the private parts of a female student, according to reporting from CNA.

The Ministry of Education told CNA that the former department head is not working at any school during this current period and that he was suspended in June.

The accused is said to have indicated that he will enter a guilty plea and will be returning to court for this purpose next month.

He could end up in jail for as long as two years, be subjected to caning, be made to pay a fine, or a combination of all three penalties if he is found guilty of voyeurism.

In order to protect the identity of the alleged victim, additional information about the case has not been published. This includes the name of the school where the man had worked and the girl had studied.

"MOE takes a serious view of staff misconduct and will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to our standards of conduct and discipline, including dismissal from service," the ministry was quoted as saying.

Over the past year, there have been several cases of children being abused or molested by adults who have been in positions of authority over them.

In August, former Member of Parliament Amrin Amin weighed in on the abuse and molestation of two brothers by a religious mentor, describing it as “horrifying.”

“Religion should make children safer, not make predators easier to trust,” he wrote.

The mentor, a 37-year-old Singaporean man, took two brothers from a broken home under his wing and became a father figure to them.

The two boys later developed suicidal thoughts and grew distant from one another.

Last month, former President Halimah Yacob commented on the report of a man who was discovered to have sexually abused 11 children over three decades. 

She noted that four of the man’s victims had been children who attended the enrichment centre that the man’s family had run. 

“The question is how could such a serial sexual predator with an established history of sexual offences be allowed to work with vulnerable children,” she wrote, adding, “We need laws to stop this from happening as paedophiles like to be in places where they can access young children.” /TISG

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