Singapore teacher jailed for "love bites" on boy

A Singapore court Wednesday jailed a 42-year-old female teacher for six months for committing indecent acts on a 13-year-old boy studying in the same school, including giving him "love bites".

The woman, a teacher for 11 years and a mother of four, had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual exploitation of a child or young person under Singapore's Children and Young Persons Act.
According to court documents, the woman, who cannot be named as it could lead to the identification of the victim, kissed the boy on his lips and given him love bites on his shoulder and neck on two separate occasions in 2012.
She became acquainted with the boy, a football team-mate of her son, and started to chat with him on Facebook, subsequently committing the incriminating acts when they went on outings to public parks.
The boy's mother filed a police report after discovering a love bite on his neck.
"This case involved the sexual grooming and exploitation of a young victim 13 years of age, by a school teacher," district judge Ng Peng Hong said in a written judgement.
"In my view, implanting of love bites and kissing with her tongue into the victim's mouth in a public park by the teacher were indecent, sexual and not appropriate," he said.
The judge said he was imposing a stiff sentence due to the "significant age gap" between the woman and the boy.
"The accused as a teacher and educator should not have defiled and corrupted the young victim," he said.
The judge said he did not place much weight on the defence argument that the woman was suffering from depression.
The woman could have been jailed for up to five years, fined Sg$10,000 ($7,932) or both, for each of the two charges she faced.