SOURCE: The Straits Times

A FORMER secondary school teacher charged with having sex with a teenage student returned to court yesterday but had her case adjourned.

The woman, who is in her early 30s, is said to have had sex with the 15-year-old on at least one occasion in January.

Dressed in black, the 1.6m-tall, slim and short-haired teacher was accompanied by her husband and an unidentified woman.

She cannot be named because of a court-ordered gag order.

Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz requested a four-week adjournment. She said investigations were completed except for the ex-teacher’s psychiatric report.

The adjournment would also allow the prosecution to finalise its position with respect to additional charges that are likely to be tendered, she added.

The woman’s lawyer, Mr Denis Tan, did not object to the prosecution’s request.

The woman’s police bail was extended and her passport impounded. She will return to court on Sept 13.

If convicted of having sex with a male below 16 years old, she could be jailed up to 10 years, fined, or jailed and fined.

The 2008 amendments to the Penal Code make it an offence for a woman to engage in sex with a person under 16 years old.

In 2009, a teacher became the first woman to be jailed for having sex with a 15-year-old student from the school where she was teaching.

The 32-year-old mother of two was sentenced to 10 months’ jail.

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