Part-time private tutor pleads guilty to molesting 3 boys in their bedrooms while parents were home

SINGAPORE — As a part-time tuition teacher who tutored children privately at their home, Muhammad Nur Ikhlas Mohd Hashim would use the opportunity to molest his male students while they did their schoolwork.

Between 2021 and 2023, he molested three students, all of whom were under 14 at the time of the offences, by touching their private parts while in their bedrooms. He did so when their parents were sometimes at home but they were oblivious to his acts.

The 26-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty on Friday (Jan 5) to three charges for using criminal force to outrage the modesty of a person under 14 years of age.

Another two similar charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing on Jan 16.

The names of all the victims cannot be published under a court order to protect their identities.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Claire Poh said that Nur Ikhlas was a student at the Singapore University of Social Sciences who worked as a part-time private tutor.

He would earn between S$2,000 and S$3,000 a month as a tutor, the court heard.

TOUCHING STUDENT INAPPROPRIATELY

Sometime in early 2021, a mother of a 13-year-old boy engaged Nur Ikhlas to give her son science tuition.

Nur Ikhlas would go to the boy's house once a week on Saturday evenings to conduct lessons in the boy's bedroom with the door closed.

During one lesson in June 2021, the boy worked on a science question when Nur Ikhlas indicated that he would touch the boy's private parts.

Even though the boy did not respond, Nur Ikhlas started to touch him inappropriately.

The boy did not know how to react and remained silent.

After helping him with some science questions, Nur Ikhlas touched him in the same area for a second time.

The boy continued to have tuition lessons with Nur Ikhlas until the end of December 2022. When his grades did not improve, the boy's mother stopped engaging the tutor.

PREYING ON EIGHT-YEAR-OLD

Separately, an eight-year-old boy's mother hired Nur Ikhlas to tutor her son in mathematics in October 2022, the court heard.

Nur Ikhlas would typically tutor the boy in his bedroom with the door slightly opened for about an hour. The boy's mother sat in the living room so that she could occasionally look into the bedroom.

After one month of classes, the boy's mother noticed that Nur Ikhlas would rub her son's back and use his finger to poke his body.

She did not think much of the actions, assuming that the tutor had done so to make her son pay attention to his studies.

Sometime between January and February in 2023, Nur Ikhlas started to sit the boy on his lap.

The boy's mother noticed it on three to four separate occasions and questioned her son, who told her that it was the tutor who initiated it.

DPP Poh said that Nur Ikhlas sat the victim on his lap and rubbed his back so that the victim would be accustomed to physical contact with him and let his guard down.

The court heard that during a session on the afternoon of Feb 26 last year, Nur Ikhlas swiped his hand over the boy's private part.

The boy was stunned and did not know what to do, so he kept quiet and continued doing his schoolwork, court documents showed.

Nur Ikhlas then continued to intentionally swipe his hand over the boy's private part two more times before he continued to teach the victim, pretending that nothing had happened.

After the tuition class ended, the boy informed his mother and she terminated the tutor's services on the same day.

FINALLY CAUGHT

The court heard that Nur Ikhlas had separately been giving tuition lessons to another 13-year-old boy since March 2022.

It was when he molested the student after a few lessons that this third victim decided to tell his mother what happened.

After the family discussed the matter, they decided to file a police report, which was done by the boy's older sister on April 3 last year.

The court heard that he would usually go to the boy's house on Sunday to teach mathematics and science, and would caress the boy's thigh several times while the bedroom door was closed.

On March 26 last year, Nur Ikhlas used his fingers to touch the boy's private part. Shocked, the boy tried to shift his body away and Nur Ikhlas stopped what he was doing to make it seem like nothing had happened, DPP Poh said.

Despite this, the tutor still repeated his actions once more, stopping only when the victim moved away.

The boy was initially reluctant to report the tutor's actions to his family but eventually told his mother what happened.

'MOLESTATION WAS AN ESCALATION'

Seeking a jail term of between 2.5 and three years with two to six strokes of the cane, DPP Poh argued that there was an abuse of trust since Nur Ikhlas had gained access to the victims as their tuition teacher.

The molesting acts had also taken place in the sanctity of the victims' own homes and the acts of molestation was an escalation from previous bodily contacts that he had with the victims, she added.

Defence counsel Narendra Mudaliar, who represented Nur Ikhlas, told the court that he was seeking 20 months' jail with three strokes of the cane so that his client may reform himself and reintegrate into society as a contributing member.

Mr Narendra added that his client is extremely remorseful for his actions that have ruined his dreams of being a teacher, which was a dream he has had since he was 12 years old.

For each charge of using criminal force to outrage the modesty of a person under 14 years of age, Nur Ikhlas could be jailed for up to five years, fined, or caned, or be given any combination of these punishments.