Student care teacher, 32, pleads guilty to sending sexual messages to boy, 11, and girl, 13; also sent the girl obscene photo

Source: TODAY

SINGAPORE -- A 32-year-old man was convicted of two charges of sending sexual messages over social media to an 11-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl when he was a student care teacher in a primary school.

Tristan Teo Hong Xian also sent the girl a photo of his private parts.

On Tuesday (April 2), Teo pleaded guilty to two charges of engaging in sexual communication with a minor and one of distributing an obscene image.

Another charge of distributing an obscene image will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

A judge called for a report assessing his suitability for a mandatory treatment order, which is a community-based sentence allowing offenders suffering from certain treatable psychiatric conditions to undergo psychiatric treatment.

The names of the students and the school Teo was working at cannot be published due to a court order protecting the victims' identities.

Teo was working as a student care teacher in a primary school from April 2018 to February 2020.

He was responsible for after-school care for students whose parents were not at home.

Teo would supervise, tutor and conduct activities with students, and has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) R Arvindren told the court.

In the course of his work, he became acquainted with the boy, then aged 11, who was not in his class.

In December 2019, Teo posted a picture of himself while on holiday in Japan. The boy was also on a holiday in Japan and added Teo on Instagram.

The boy realised that Teo was a student care teacher at his school and they began communicating over Instagram.

Sometime in August 2020, the teacher began asking the boy about his private parts and told him that he wondered what they looked like as he was curious.

Teo later admitted to the police that he wanted to "hold back" his sexual desires but eventually "gave in to the temptation", said DPP Arvindren.

Around a year later, Teo got in contact with the girl, then aged 13. She was also studying in the same school and was friends with the male victim.

Teo would speak with the girl over Instagram and WhatsApp, and asked her to trade pictures of their private parts sometime between August and December in 2021.

The girl declined to send a photo but Teo sent a one-time view photo of his private parts to the victim.

In June 2022, Teo asked the girl over WhatsApp if he could again send pictures of his private parts and if she remembered that he had previously spoken to her about his "horny problems".

The girl replied to Teo that he should "(stop) letting (his) desires control (him)" and blocked him on June 13, 2022.

That same month, the girl created a second Instagram account under a fake identity and contacted Teo to gather evidence on how he had been sending sexual messages to her and her friend.

He knew that the person behind the Instagram account was a minor under the age of 16 and engaged in sexual communication with the account holder, but did not know that the girl was behind the account.

A police report was made stating that Teo had sent photos of his private parts to two children on June 22 that year. Court documents did not state who made this report or how Teo was arrested.

The prosecution did not object to a mandatory treatment order suitability report to be called for Teo, to assess whether he suffered from some psychiatric disorder that contributed to the commission of his offences.

Teo will return to court for sentencing on May 2.

For each charge of engaging in a sexual communication with a minor under the age of 14, Teo could be sentenced to up to three years' jail or be fined, or face both punishments.

Anyone who distributes an obscene image can be jailed for up to three months, be fined, or receive both as punishment.