Yahoo Finance Primary school staff jailed, caned for molesting pupil
SINGAPORE — An operations support officer at a primary school took a liking to a young boy whom he found cute and adorable, a court heard.
Chong Choon Ying would hug the eight-year-old victim whenever he saw him alone and even touched the boy's groin once.
Thinking that no one would believe him, the boy didn't tell anyone about the molest until two years later.
At the State Courts on Tuesday (6 April), Chong, now 48, was jailed for 14 months along with one stroke of the cane after he pleaded guilty to one out of two molestation charges.
About the case
Chong's duties included handling classroom maintenance and locking up the classrooms after school hours.
"Sometime in January 2017, the victim was noticed by the accused, who took a liking to him as he found the victim to be 'cute and adorable'," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Heershan Kaur.
"The accused subsequently started to hug the victim on numerous occasions between January 2017 and mid-2018, whenever he saw him alone in the school. According to the accused, he would not approach the victim when other persons are around as he felt that they may not feel comfortable about him hugging the victim," she added.
In early 2017, Chong went up to the boy and asked for a hug. He opened his arms and gestured the victim to come closer.
When the boy went closer to him, Chong wrapped his left hand around the victim's shoulders and used his right hand to touch the victim's groin.
"The victim felt that his modesty had been outraged by the accused’s actions, but did not immediately report the accused to his school teachers or parents because he thought that no one would believe him," said DPP Kaur.
The victim told his father about the incident in January 2019 and the school authorities were alerted and a police report was made. Chong was arrested shortly after.
For his crime, Chong could have been jailed for up to five years along with a fine and caning.
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