SINGAPORE — He tried to inform his parents that his mathematics tutor had touched him inappropriately, but the teenager’s parents assumed that it was either an accident or a misunderstanding.

This allowed the tutor to continue with his brazen acts at the youth’s home, and the tutor even began fantasising that his 15-year-old student was enjoying his inappropriate conduct.

On Thursday (Nov 25), the 43-year-old man pleaded guilty to a single charge of molesting his student and was jailed for eight months.

Another charge for the possession of obscene films was taken into consideration for his sentencing.

The identity of both the tutor and his victim were not shown in court documents to protect the identity of the victim.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Bryan Joel Lim said that at the time of the offence on Aug 29 last year, the accused was working as both a part-time tutor and a Grab private-hire driver.

His victim was a Secondary 3 student whose family hired the man sometime in 2018.

DPP Lim said that the tuition sessions were held once every weekend during the evening in the living room of the victim’s home. During these sessions, the tutor would sit beside the victim on a long bench.

While it is unknown when the man started inappropriately touching the student, the teenager had informed his family about one such incident in June last year.

After the complaint to his family members, the only change that they made was for the student and the tutor to sit on separate chairs for future sessions.

This arrangement was not enough to deter the man.

On Aug 29, when the victim’s parents were home, the tutor began touching the victim on his thigh and crotch area for about 20 minutes.

“The accused harboured a fantasy that the victim was enjoying himself,” DPP Lim said.

The victim did not know how to react to the situation.

The teenager “eventually summoned the courage to react to the accused and stared at him”, which caused the tutor to pull his hand away.

While working on some mathematics questions, the man again touched the student, who then asked his tutor about his actions.

In response, the man pulled his hand away and apologised but by then, the teen had left his seat with the intention to inform his parents about what had transpired.

The accused pulled the victim’s arm and begged him not to tell his parents, but the boy shouted at him to let go.

On hearing the commotion, the victim’s parents left their bedroom. When their son informed them that he had been inappropriately touched, the accused “knelt on the floor begging the victim’s parents not to call for the police”.

For outraging the modesty of his student, the man could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or any combination of these punishments.