A 59-year-old former psychology lecturer at the National University of Singapore (NUS) found guilty of molesting five 13-year-old boys at a school camp 20 years ago.
The accused Chan Cheng was convicted after a trial on five charges of molesting the victims over three days in June 1999 and seven more charges of molesting four other boys.
As per the court documents, the former NUS lecturer was the camp consultant during a life-skills camp which took place between June 28 and June 30 in 1999 at Guillemard Camp in Old Airport Road by an unidentified school for its secondary school students.
The documents also mentioned that the night when these five boys were molested, they were asked to sleep in the same bunk as Chan.
During the court hearing, all these victims gave evidence as well as a fellow student, who witnessed the crime. As per a victim, on that night when the boy was sitting on his bed, Chan went and asked him whether he could sleep.
As mentioned by the victim, Chan started to massage his thigh before molesting him and he pushed Chan's hand as he was feeling uncomfortable.
The witness of this incident, another boy at that camp stated that he saw Chan while massaging the victim's thighs and touching his private parts.
Later, another victim told the court that in the same camp one night he was lying on the upper bunk when suddenly Chan went to him and asked if he was feeling tired. When the victim said that his legs were paining Chan began massaging his legs, moving up to his thighs and private areas. This incident was witnessed by another student at that camp.
Chan again targeted his third victim just like the previous incidents while putting his hands into the boy's shorts. AS per court at that time he was feeling extremely embarrassing and scared.
In terms of the fourth victim, the ex-NUS lecturer targeted the boy when he was returning to his bunk after taking a shower on the second day of the camp. The accused asked if he had used powder and called him to follow him to his bed.
Then Chan asked the boy to lift his shirt before rubbing powder on his armpit and pull the band of his shorts forward. After the teen followed his instructions, the accused took a powder on his hand then placed his hand into the boy's shorts to molest him.
The fifth victim of Chan was taking a shower on the first night of the camp and it happened when he asked the accused to open a soap bottle. Court documents said that Chan asked the boy why he was wearing underwear and in reply, the boy said that he was uncomfortable being naked. But when Chan asked him to remove the underwear, the boy did so and then the accused took advantage of the situation.
But his crimes were revealed after one boy, who was a student leader at the camp saw Chan molesting a boy in the bunk. The next morning the witness informed the camp commander, who immediately interviewed the victim, who also revealed that Chan had touched some other boys. Soon after that, police were alerted about the case.
That year in November Chan was arrested and served charges. Even though he was asked to attend court after being released on bail, the accused fled to Malaysia and remained there for 17 years. But in December 2016 he was arrested again and sent back to Singapore.
However, in his defence, Chan said that he was framed as these victims were unhappy with the harsh and regimental style of the camp.
In any case of outrage of modesty, the law states that a convict can face a jail term up to two years as well as a fine.
