SINGAPORE — Finding himself attracted to his colleague, a teacher took to impersonating her online by creating a social media account in her name, using her photographs and engaging in conversations that were sometimes sexual with former and current students of the school where they both worked.

The 38-year-old teacher received a 16-week jail sentence on Thursday (Sept 7) after pleading guilty to unlawful stalking last month.

Both the teachers, school and social media site cannot be named to protect the identities of the victims involved.

Court documents stated that the man and his former female colleague both taught different classes at the same school between 2011 and 2014. They were married but became close friends.

After he left the school in 2014 for a new posting, the man continued to keep in close contact with the woman by sending her phone text messages and meeting with her in person.

However, both their spouses were uncomfortable with the close relationship they had and they stopped contacting each other.

The man began to miss his former colleague and created a social media account named after the woman in December 2018.

Without her knowledge or consent, he posted on this account photographs of her that were taken back when they were still co-workers. Some other photographs were downloaded from the woman’s own social media account.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Huo Jiongrui said that the man did these because he wanted to look at photographs of the woman, who had blocked him from her own social media account.

Later, the man started to use the account to communicate with other people online between December 2018 and February 2021 — the majority of whom were current or former students from the school where she was still teaching.

Impersonating his former colleague, the man went on to have no less than 589 conversations with different people.

Of these, 49 were of a sexual nature with students from her school that revolved around what sexual activities they would like to do with her, their sexual fetishes and fantasies. Court documents did not specify the gender of the students.

The man would then imagine himself as a student who was receiving sexual advances from an older woman and fantasised often about this.

HOW HIS DEEDS WERE UNCOVERED

From Dec 12, 2019 to Feb 2, 2021, the man used the account to communicate with two male students who were then aged between 15 and 16.

He would chat about various topics that were sexually suggestive with them, even receiving a video from one of the students touching himself.

His offence was uncovered after the police investigated a complaint filed by one of the students over a separate matter. It is not known if this matter pertained to the man.

On Jan 29, 2021, police found photographs of the woman in the mobile phone of the student who filed the complaint. 

The photographs were then traced to the account that the man had created.

The female teacher was interviewed a few days later by the police about the account and she became distressed after finding out that someone had used her identity to engage in inappropriate conversations with students from her school.

The man was eventually arrested the next day on Feb 2, 2021 and his mobile phone was seized.

The phone was later discovered to have been logged to the fake account and the man admitted that he was the creator and the only one with access.

He has since been suspended by the Ministry of Education (MOE) from all duties and has been drawing a half-month salary since Feb 6, 2021.

In a response to TODAY’s query, MOE said on Thursday that the man has not been allowed to carry out his duty since February 2021 and is no longer teaching in any school.

It added that it takes a serious view of staff members’ misconduct and will take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to its standards of conduct and discipline. This includes dismissing them from service.

NOT A MOMENT OF FOLLY

In delivering his sentence of 16 weeks’ jail, District Judge Chua Wei Yuan was broadly in agreement with the prosecution’s list of the harm caused to the victims.

The judge added that he did not agree with the defence that the acts were done in a moment of folly because they had been taking place over two years and the man was essentially “caught red-handed”.

He also said that “one apology is better than none”, in reference to the apology letters that the man had written to his former colleague. However, these apologetic gestures must be scrutinised to ascertain if he was truly remorseful since they came only three weeks after his arrest. 

After the sentence was passed, the prosecution made an application for a stay of execution of one week for the team to consider if an appeal should be made.

The prosecution had sought seven to eight months’ jail for the unlawful stalking offence.

The application, however, was not granted by the judge after the defence argued that it might be prejudicial to his client who was ready to serve his sentence if the appeal is dismissed.

The prosecution is still considering whether to file an appeal against the sentence, TODAY understands.

For unlawful stalking, the man could have been fined up to S$5,000 or jailed up to 12 months, or both.