Corrective training, caning for tuition teacher who abused boys
SINGAPORE — A freelance tuition teacher who sought out teenage boys online for sexual activities was given eight years of corrective training and six strokes of the cane on Tuesday (20 April).
Chock Soon Seng, 43, had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts each of sexually penetrating a minor under the age of 14, and sexually penetrating a minor under the age of 16. Another 14 charges of a sexual nature, including exploiting children, were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Corrective training is given to repeat offenders and results in an incarceration period of between five and 14 years. These offenders are not given the usual one-third remission their sentences for good behaviour.
Both victims were aged 13 and 15 at the time of the offences and cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order.
Chock was also previously convicted for sexual offences involving children in 2010 and 2014.
First victim
As a tuition teacher, Chock taught Mandarin to students from Primary 5 to Secondary 4.
In 2016, he began using social networking applications such as Grindr and Locanto to meet other gay individuals for sexual activity. He met the then 13-year-old victim through such an app in April 2018.
The two met at the void deck of Chock's HDB block on 15 April that year. He brought the boy to a landing at the nearest multi-storey carpark where they engaged in oral sex and masturbation before parting ways.
After that meeting, Chock told the victim to delete their online chat. He then persuaded the victim, who is now aged 16, to meet again at the Punggol Community Club on a weekday after the boy got out of school.
The two engaged in sexual acts at a toilet inside the community club. When Chock later asked the victim for his school’s Primary 6 Higher Chinese examination papers, the boy became annoyed and decided to block Chock's messages after their second meetup.
The boy’s mother found her son’s conversation with Chock on his phone in June 2019 and made a police report.
Second victim
In 2018, a 15-year-old boy posted on Locanto stating that he was looking for women. Chock responded to the post and persuaded the boy to engage in sexual acts with him.
He told the boy, now aged 18, that it was normal for straight men to perform sex acts on one another and coaxed him into experimenting with him, even though the boy said he was heterosexual.
“The accused also told the second victim that it was very difficult to find women and offered to pay the second victim to perform sexual acts,” said the prosecution.
At Chock’s insistence, the boy agreed to meet on 23 April that year at the victim’s home, where they engaged in sexual activity. Chock later paid the victim less than the amount they had agreed upon, claiming that he had yet to receive his salary.
Chock continued to pester the boy to meet again and promised to pay the boy more in cash. He also told the boy that "the feeling would change" in order to ease the boy's reluctance towards engaging in sex acts a second time.
The boy eventually agreed to meet on 11 May at his home. During this encounter, Chock persuaded the boy to watch heterosexual pornography to stimulate himself and the boy complied.
Again, Chock paid the boy less than what he promised and left. After this encounter, the boy blocked Chock’s attempts to contact him.
Following Chock's arrest, he was sent for psychiatric assessment and was found not to be suffering from any mental illness.
For sexually penetrating a minor under the age of 14, Chock faced a jail term of up to 20 years, as well as a fine or caning. For sexually penetrating a minor under the age of 16, he faced a jail term of up to 10 years, a fine, or both.
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