Singapore jails pre-school leaders for deleting CCTV footage of toddler sexual abuse by cook case cover-up

SINGAPORE: The vice-principal and executive director of a pre-school who covered up the molestation of a two-year-old girl by the school’s cook were jailed on 19 January.

The vice-principal was sentenced to three months and two weeks’ imprisonment, while the executive director received a four-month jail term.

During sentencing, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said educators are entrusted to protect children and shield them from harm.

Instead, the two women had profoundly betrayed that trust by deleting CCTV footage that captured the sexual assault.

“The egregiousness of their actions cannot be understated,” the judge said, stressing that the footage was crucial as young children could neither articulate their experiences nor testify about what had been done to them.

Judge Sripathy-Shanaz added that when leaders choose concealment over disclosure in cases of child sexual abuse, it sends a deeply troubling signal that perceived personal or institutional interests are being prioritised over child protection.

The pre-school principal, 62, who was convicted of intentionally omitting information about the sexual assault, is expected to be sentenced in March.

All three women pleaded guilty on 19 December 2025 to covering up the crimes of the cook, Teo Guan Huat, 61.

The trio were members of the school’s senior management. They, along with the pre-school, cannot be named due to a gag order imposed by the court.

Abuse uncovered and concealed

Teo, a Malaysian and Singapore permanent resident, was sentenced on 10 November 2025 to nine years, four months and seven weeks’ imprisonment for molesting three girls aged between one and two.

He had repeatedly inserted his hands into their nappies several times a week between May and November 2023 while the children were in a nap room and teachers were not looking.

Teo, who had worked at the pre-school for about a year, resigned in November 2023 after his offences came to light.

The cover-up began on 16 November 2023, when the vice-principal, 49, discovered footage of Teo molesting one of the toddlers while reviewing CCTV recordings for an unrelated matter.

At the time, the principal and executive director were overseas attending a course on protecting children from abuse.

The vice-principal sent the footage to them via WhatsApp and discussed the matter during a video call.

She later instructed Teo not to go near the children.

The three women met again on 21 November and decided to inform the chairwoman of the school’s management committee.

The following day, the vice-principal showed the CCTV footage to the chairwoman and asked whether a police report should be made.

Instead of alerting the authorities immediately, the senior managers gave reasons for concealing the offences.

The executive director, 59, said the school would be implicated if the police were informed, as parents and the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) would have to be notified.

She suggested that the victim, who had been asleep, might not have been affected, and proposed that the matter be settled quietly by asking Teo to resign.

When the chairwoman asked whether the child’s parents should be informed, the executive director said the school would need to manage their reactions, warning that the school’s reputation would be tarnished and parents might withdraw their children.

The vice-principal said the impact on the victim and her parents would be worse if the police were informed, adding that if she were the mother, she would rather not know what had been done.

On 23 November 2023, the chairwoman initially decided not to make a police report and to dismiss Teo instead.

However, after further discussions with other management committee members the next day, she changed her mind and decided to report the matter to the police.

Fearing the fallout, the three senior managers decided to resign.

Two days later, while printing their resignation letters, the executive director and vice-principal attempted to persuade the principal to delete the CCTV footage.

Acting on the executive director’s instructions, the vice-principal reformatted the hard disks of the pre-school’s CCTV system, leading to her conviction for obstruction of justice.

The executive director admitted to conspiring with her to obstruct the course of justice.

Another woman, 66, received a stern warning and was granted a discharge amounting to an acquittal in July 2025.

The fallout

The chairwoman eventually made a police report on 2 December 2023, and Teo was arrested two days later.

Police officers who raided the pre-school found that all three CCTV hard disks had been reformatted. Despite this, forensic officers were able to recover footage of Teo’s offences.

Judge Sripathy-Shanaz said the women’s actions imposed an unnecessary investigative burden on the police and came perilously close to permanently compromising the administration of justice.

She added that it was only fortuitous that the harm was mitigated by the successful recovery of the deleted footage.

In May 2024, ECDA imposed S$26,200 in financial penalties on the pre-school and restricted its enrolment of new pupils after finding that children’s safety had been compromised.

Four management staff members faced action, including bans on working in the pre-school sector, and the school was ordered to submit a corrective action plan.

When Teo pleaded guilty, prosecutors said that although he was employed as a cook, he frequently escorted children for showers, prepared their bedding and patted them to sleep — duties he was not hired to perform.

The prosecution described the case as one of the most horrendous acts of sexual abuse committed in a pre-school.

On 6 November 2025, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said in a written parliamentary reply that ECDA would use artificial intelligence to improve the review of CCTV footage during investigations.

CCTV cameras have been mandatory in all pre-schools and government-funded early intervention centres since July 2024.