Malaysian cook’s toddler abuse at Singapore preschool covered up by staff who deleted CCTV
School management admit to reformatting CCTV to hide the abuse, claiming one of the victims was ‘unaware’ because they were asleep
Three former members of a Singapore preschool’s senior management admitted on Friday to covering up the offences of a cook who molested toddlers at the preschool where they all worked.
The cook, 61-year-old Teo Guan Huat, had molested three toddlers during naptime over seven months in 2023. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than nine years’ jail last month.
The three members of senior management were the 59-year-old executive director, 61-year-old principal and 49-year-old vice-principal of the preschool.
All three failed to report Teo’s acts and conspired to reformat a closed-circuit television camera that contained incriminating footage. The executive director and vice-principal also conspired to delete video evidence of the acts.
Their names and the name of the preschool where they worked cannot be published due to a gag order protecting the identities of the victims, who were between one and two years old at the time of the offences.
The executive director and vice-principal each pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to obstruct justice. Two other charges for obstructing justice and failing to report Teo’s offences will be considered in sentencing.
The principal pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to report Teo’s offences. Another charge of conspiring to obstruct justice will be taken into consideration.