Axed teacher ducks jail in abuse of teen

A fired Brooklyn public school teacher wept Thursday as a judge sentenced him to probation for repeatedly sexually abusing a 16-year-old student over a three-month span in 2017.

Mervyn Affoon, 68, was convicted in March of criminal sex acts, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child over his repeated exploitation of a 16-year-old student at the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism at Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush.

His lawyer, Wynton Sharpe, begged for a no-jail sentence for his aging client, who he said would be at high risk of contracting coronavirus and dying in prison.

“I’m pleading with your honor that Mr. Affoon be given probation,” Sharpe said through his face mask in Brooklyn Supreme Court’s ceremonial courtroom, the largest courtroom in the building.

“Any [prison] sentence would be tantamount to a death sentence ... There’s also the now-issue of COVID. It specifically impacts my client.”

Prosecutors requested that Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Joanne Quinones sentence Affoon to two years in prison.

Quinones said she took into account Affoon’s age, health issues and positive letters from former students to determine his probation sentence.

“I received several letters from his former students all of which comment on the positive and integral role he played in their lives,” Quinones said as Affoon cried and dabbed at his eyes with a tissue.

Affoon first abused the boy first in an empty classroom. Then, he targeted the boy in an elevator at the school.