Man blames ghost for sexual assault on 7 boys
AsiaOne
Saturday, Sep 22, 2012
SINGAPORE - A man who sexually assaulted seven boys was sentenced to 15 years in jail on Friday.
The 51-year-old tutor had told psychiatrists that a boy's ghost had told him to commit the acts, reported The Straits Times.
However, Justice Woo Bih Li told him: "It seems to me that you have to take primary responsibility for your conduct."
Justice Woo said that his supernatural explanation did not make him any less culpable, and that even if it was true, the question was whether he could have resisted it.
He noted that the tutor did not do some of the things that he told the psychiatrist the ghost had told him to do, such as touching girls' buttocks and throwing stones at people.
The court heard that in one case, he asked a victim to stay behind after class. He started by kissing and hugging him, which escalated to the tutor performing sex acts on the boy. He continued to abuse him even after the victim stopped attending his classes, reported ST.
The unmarried man also took obscene videos and photos of three of his victims at his tuition centre in northern Singapore.
He committed the crimes on schoolboys aged between eight and 15, from 2007 to 2009.
He was caught in November 2009 after two police reports were filed against him, accusing him of molestation.
Last year, he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two boys. 29 more charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing.
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AsiaOne
Saturday, Sep 22, 2012
SINGAPORE - A man who sexually assaulted seven boys was sentenced to 15 years in jail on Friday.
The 51-year-old tutor had told psychiatrists that a boy's ghost had told him to commit the acts, reported The Straits Times.
However, Justice Woo Bih Li told him: "It seems to me that you have to take primary responsibility for your conduct."
Justice Woo said that his supernatural explanation did not make him any less culpable, and that even if it was true, the question was whether he could have resisted it.
He noted that the tutor did not do some of the things that he told the psychiatrist the ghost had told him to do, such as touching girls' buttocks and throwing stones at people.
The court heard that in one case, he asked a victim to stay behind after class. He started by kissing and hugging him, which escalated to the tutor performing sex acts on the boy. He continued to abuse him even after the victim stopped attending his classes, reported ST.
The unmarried man also took obscene videos and photos of three of his victims at his tuition centre in northern Singapore.
He committed the crimes on schoolboys aged between eight and 15, from 2007 to 2009.
He was caught in November 2009 after two police reports were filed against him, accusing him of molestation.
Last year, he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two boys. 29 more charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing.
[email protected]
