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Former drama teacher jailed for sex with a 14-year-old student
Published on Apr 25, 2013
A former drama teacher, who took advantage of a student aged 14 in 2011 and had sex with her, was sentenced to a year in jail on Thursday. District Judge Siva Shanmugam said that Aravind S. Menon "had abused the trust reposed in him as a teacher". -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
By Khushwant Singh
A former drama teacher, who took advantage of a student aged 14 in 2011 and had sex with her, was sentenced to a year in jail on Thursday. District Judge Siva Shanmugam said that Aravind S. Menon "had abused the trust reposed in him as a teacher". The judge also noted the seven year gap between him and the girl and called his act of filming one of the trysts "deplorable".
Menon, 25, pleaded guilty on April 11 to having sex with a partner under the age of 16. The court heard then that he was working twice a week voluntarily for the school, when the girl joined the drama society in March 2008. Neither the girl nor the school can be named for legal reasons.
The girl started confiding in Menon, then aged 20, about her problems at home and in school. They grew close and had sex on three occasions at his home in Choa Chu Kang in May and July 2009. He also filmed one of their trysts on his cellphone and downloaded it to his computer.
In end-July, her parents read his messages on her cellphone and told her to break up with him. Her father also informed the school of his suspicions and Menon was sacked. In August 2009, she sent a text message to him saying that she wanted to end the relationship. He replied and threatened to harm her family. Menon, who is single, is now a freelance writer.
Teacher records sex with student then threatens suicide
SINGAPORE - He taught her to act. Then he acted on her innocence to seduce her into sex at his home after school.
Aravind, a freelance writer, taught drama class part-time at the school twice a week.
The victim, who cannot be named because of her age, joined the drama class on March 6, 2008, and started sharing her problems at school and at home with him. They became close and on Feb 19, 2009, they entered into a relationship.
About three months later, they had unprotected sex at his home.
Despite a pregnancy scare following that tryst, they had sex again the same month on May 31, when they were alone in his flat.
Yesterday in court, the prosecution called for a deterrent sentence of at least 12 months' jail. The aggravating factors include the abuse of his position as a teacher to gratify his sexual urges.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo also noted that the victim was 14 years and one month old when the offences took place.
If the offences had been committed just a month earlier, he would have faced charges with heavier penalties - a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine or caning.
The prosecutor also stressed that Aravind's actions cannot be dismissed as "a momentary folly". Instead, they were "a conscious, deliberate and systematic pattern of offending", where he willingly continued to have unprotected sex despite an earlier pregnancy scare.
In mitigation, defence counsel Selva K Naidu said that after his client graduated from the school in 2004, he returned to the school to teach drama on a part-time and voluntary basis. He was later employed as a part-time drama teacher by the school in March 2008.
After they became a couple in February 2009, the victim started visiting Aravind at his home about once a week, where she met his mother and his sister.
He lives with his parents and sister.
Camera
Halfway through their second sexual encounter on May 31, 2009, the bachelor took a video of them having sex using his mobile phone.
He kept the film in his laptop.
The victim's parents found out about their relationship the following month, after reading his text messages to her. They then asked him to end the relationship.
Despite that, he had sex with her again in early July at his home.
During a counselling session that month, the victim's father informed the school about the relationship.
The school suspended Aravind, and he later lost his job.
DPP Khoo said Aravind's action of recording his "illegal sexual acts with a minor on his mobile phone, and later transferred them to his laptop for storage" "for reasons known only to himself", is an aggravating feature. AFTER Aravind lost his job, he and his victim quarrelled more often.
She became worried that he would post their sex video online.
He didn't do so.
But on Aug 11, 2009, they argued over text messages and she told him she wanted to end their relationship.
He replied: "When I send my guys to your place, try to stay out of their way.
"They don't really care who they hurt. And you're the kind that they'd like to 'play' with."
The victim panicked and wanted to inform the police, but her mother stopped her.
Aravind later found out about her intention to call the police and texted her that he was going to jump off the highest floor of an HDB block.
The police were then called in.
DPP Khoo described Aravind's conduct of threatening to hurt the victim and her family as "wicked and deplorable".
In this context, he said Aravind will be "hard-pressed to claim that he is sincerely contrite for committing the offences against the victim".
In mitigation, his counsel said that on Aug 11, 2009, the duo had met for lunch and quarrelled. That was when Aravind thought of killing himself.
His client went up to the 10th storey of a block of flats that evening, intending to commit suicide. From that point onwards, the lawyer said, he could not remember anything else that happened that day.
The next thing his client remembered was that he was in the hospital, he said.
Despite that episode, the couple continued their relationship, albeit without sex. In late 2009, the victim confided in Aravind that she was physically abused by her mother at home.
Ran away
She then ran away and admitted herself to a girls' home.
Aravind's lawyer said his client visited her there and brought her things like soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste and a pillow, for her to use.
The counsellor from the home also asked him for his advice as her boyfriend, on how to handle her and how to ensure she does not run away from home again.
The victim returned home in early 2010, and they continued the relationship.
But around the middle of 2011, they agreed to call it quits.
The lawyer said his client was shocked when the police contacted him in November last year and told him he would be prosecuted for the offences. He was surprised because he had not heard anything from the police for three years.
Because of this, Mr Naidu said his client should be given some discount in the sentence, for the long delay in starting the prosecution.
About the case
HE HAD sex with his underage student - and even filmed the act .
When she wanted to end the relationship, he threatened to send people to hurt her and her family.
And when the student wanted to report him to the police, he threatened to kill himself.
He was dramatic in his dirty deeds. And she was left traumatised.
Yesterday, former drama teacher Aravind S Menon, 25, pleaded guilty to a count of having sex with the student when she was 14.
Aravind, who taught drama at a secondary school, faces another two similar charges, which will be taken into consideration during sentencing on April 25.
