Photo: VCG

A male teacher who had repeatedly molested a 10-year-old schoolgirl was given a prison sentence for the crime of child molestation and was banned for life from any occupation that has close contact with minors, the first case of its kind in China, a court in Beijing ruled on Tuesday. 

Surnamed Wang, the criminal was hired by a school in Beijing as an extracurricular instructor. Wang took advantage of the one-on-one tutoring opportunities to touch the private part of the girl multiple times, local media reported. 

Wang was caught in March after the girl's family members reported the matter to the police. The juvenile court of Beijing Municipality Haidian District People's Court held the trial in accordance with the laws and made the ruling on Tuesday. 

This is the first case in China concerning a teaching personnel who sexually assault minors to be banned for life from jobs that have close contact with minors. 

According to the court, Wang's behavior of molesting a female child under 14 constituted the crime of child molestation and should be punished. Besides, Wang seriously violated professional ethics, corrupted the morality of teachers, destroyed the normal order of education and teaching, and hurt the overall good image of teachers. 

The court said Wang's behavior had an obvious malicious intent and a huge harmful effect on the society.

The case became the first of its kind after the guideline on the implementation of the employment ban issued by China's Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Education that was enacted on Tuesday. 

According to the guideline, teachers and faculty members who commit crimes of sexual assault, abuse, human trafficking, violent injury, should be banned from any occupation related to minors. 

Global Times