Prosecution seeks 2 years' jail, caning for man who molested toddler
The prosecution has urged a district court to sentence a British man, convicted of molesting a toddler in Singapore, to at least two years' jail with four strokes of the cane.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo told District Judge Chee Min Ping yesterday that Richard Christopher Monks, 29, had "intruded" into an "intimate part" of the three-year-old girl's body.
In his mitigation plea, defence lawyer Patrick Fernandez asked for his client to be sentenced to one year's jail with two strokes of the cane.
He told the judge: "Richard committed the offence in a momentary lapse of judgment owing to work-related stress and anxiety."
Monks is out on $5,000 bail and will be sentenced on March 3.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to outraging the girl's modesty in his class on Oct 20, 2018.
Closed-circuit television footage taken from the classroom and played in court earlier this week showed him rearranging some chairs for a video-watching session at 5.18pm that day.
From the footage, Monks was seen positioning himself behind the victim as he played a video on his mobile phone for the children to watch.
The pupils then leaned over a table to view the phone screen.
The footage showed Monks repeatedly lifting the victim's pink dress and caressing her buttocks with his left hand.
She turned around repeatedly to look at him while he committed the offence.
Monks was also seen using his right hand to hold another mobile phone close to the victim's buttocks, pointing it up her skirt.
"The victim was uncomfortable with the accused's touch, and expressed her discomfort by fidgeting and turning back to look at him several times during the said duration," said DPP Tan Hsiao Tien.
"Despite (her) discomfort, the accused continued to touch and caress her buttocks."
The offence came to light on Oct 27, 2018, as the girl's parents were preparing to take her to the learning centre for lessons. The child was reluctant to go.
When asked why, she said that "teacher Richard" had "touched her" and pointed to her buttocks.
Her mother alerted the police later that day and stopped sending her daughter to the centre.
The police arrested Monks on Nov 1, 2018, shortly after he returned to Singapore from a trip to Thailand.
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