SINGAPORE: A man who admitted to ill-treating his children on three occasions was jailed for 16 months on Tuesday (Feb 11).
The father, now 41, cannot be named due to gag orders to protect the children’s identities.
He previously pleaded guilty to two charges of ill-treating his son and daughter. A third similar charge was considered in sentencing.
Sometime around 2019, when his son was about 11, the man was upset with the boy over school matters.
He took a metal spoon and heated it on the stove, then placed the spoon against the boy’s skin on his buttock.
This caused the boy to suffer a burn and scarring.
In June 2022, when the man’s daughter was about 15, he became unhappy with her and kicked her shoulder while she was sitting on the floor.
About a week later, when the girl was still in pain, her mother took her to a Chinese medical hall to have her shoulder looked at.
The mother was told to bring the girl to a hospital. The girl’s parents did so the next day and she was diagnosed with a fracture at her collarbone, caused by the kick.
She was discharged on the same day but received 14 days of hospitalisation leave and a drug prescription.
A third incident that was taken into consideration took place in July 2022, when the man hit his son’s arm with a belt.
The offences came to light when the man got into a traffic accident in August 2022 and was interviewed by the police.
Investigations started after this, and Child Protection Services also became involved.
The prosecutor asked for 16 to 22 months in jail, arguing that the man showed “a level of premeditation and cruelty” by using a heated spoon on his son’s bare skin, and that his daughter’s fracture revealed the amount of force he used to kick her.
The man breached “the ultimate relationship of trust” that existed between him and the victims as their father, and the young victims did not have any means of defending themselves, the prosecutor argued.
The offender could have been jailed for up to four years, fined up to S$4,000 (US$3,000), or both for ill-treating a child in 2019.
The maximum punishment for ill-treatment of a child was doubled with effect from Jan 1, 2020, to eight years in jail, an S$8,000 fine, or both.
