SINGAPORE: A preschool teacher who watched passively as her colleague repeatedly hit the head of a two-year-old girl with a plastic divider and shoved her under a table to trap her against the wall was sentenced to two weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Apr 23).
The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly permitting the ill-treatment of the victim.
Her colleague – a 30-year-old female Singaporean – faces six charges. Her matter is pending before the courts, with her case to be heard next on May 5.
All parties, as well as the name of the preschool, cannot be named due to a gag order on the witnesses and any details that might lead to their identification.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ariel Tan sought a sentence of at least two weeks’ jail, while the defence submitted for a sentence of a fine only or a jail sentence of no more than five days.
Delivering the sentence on Wednesday, District Judge James Elisha Lee said the law must afford children the “strongest protection possible” given their vulnerability.
“Their vulnerability stems not just from being defenceless by virtue of their age, innocence and relatively small stature, but also their inability to verbalise and articulate what they have been through,” he said.
“This makes it difficult to detect and prevent any abuse they have been subjected to, with the consequence that such abuse may continue for a long period.”
On the accused’s culpability, he said it was clear that she had not taken any steps to intervene or attempt to ask her colleague to stop during the entire duration that the victim was subjected to the abuse, adding that she had also failed to check on the victim.
“She had merely watched passively as (her colleague) proceeded first to shove the table at the victim against the wall, which was a potentially dangerous move given the victim’s small stature, and thereafter to hit the victim on the head with the plastic dividers.”
The judge said preschool teachers have the important duty not just to educate and nurture, but to care for the students as well.
This duty, he said, naturally extends to protecting the children against any form of physical abuse by a colleague.
“Parents entrust their children to the teachers at preschools. They rely on them completely for the care of their children for the entire duration their children are at the preschool,” he said.
“The young children, by virtue of their vulnerability, rely totally on the teachers for care and protection.
“It is critical, as such, that parents are afforded the peace of mind when they place their children in the hands of the teachers.”
WHAT HAPPENED
The incident, which was captured on the preschool’s CCTV footage, took place over a ten-minute period on June 27, 2022.
At the time, the accused, a Chinese national, and her colleague were jointly in charge of looking after a playgroup class, which was attended by the victim.
When the accused entered the classroom at about 10.45am that day, the victim was trapped with her back against the wall behind a chair and table.
According to court documents, the accused’s colleague had pushed the table close to the wall in order to trap the victim.
The accused spotted the victim moving under the table, beneath some blue plastic dividers, a minute later.
Upon seeing this, she alerted her colleague and pointed to the victim, prompting her to rush back to the table to shove the girl back under the table.
Her colleague then sat down nearby and repeatedly shoved the table against the wall to prevent the girl from escaping.
A minute later, as the child got to her feet, the woman shoved the table against her once more, hitting her torso and trapping her between the table and wall.
The accused did not intervene, the court heard.
Her colleague stood over the table and the victim with a blue plastic divider in hand while scolding the victim, who was crying. The accused did not intervene.
About five minutes later, while the victim was still trapped under the table, the CCTV footage showed the older woman bending over the table and hitting the crown of the toddler’s head with a blue plastic divider.
This time, the accused was standing closer to the victim and peered over the shelf to look at the victim when her colleague struck her, but still, she did not intervene.
Her colleague hit the victim’s head again with the plastic divider.
Despite being aware that her colleague was about to discipline the girl, who remained trapped under the table, the accused did not intervene to protect her.
Instead, she walked over to the table to glance at the victim before walking away, without checking on the girl’s well-being.
HOW THE ABUSE CAME TO LIGHT
That night, the girl’s mother sent a message to the school via an online platform to ask if something had happened, after noticing bruises on her daughter’s face. However, she did not receive a reply.
When they brought their child to school the next day, the victim’s parents asked the accused about the bruises on their daughter’s face. In response, the accused said she would check with the other teachers.
The accused then called a senior teacher at the preschool to inform her of the exchange she had with the victim’s parents and shared that she suspected that the victim’s bruises had been caused by her colleague.
The senior teacher later informed the principal about what the accused had told her.
According to court documents, the accused’s colleague – the one who had allegedly abused the child – replied to girl’s mother, via the online platform, stating that nothing had happened to the girl.
That afternoon, when the accused was called into the principal’s office for a one-to-one interview about the incident involving the victim, she informed the principal that her colleague might have hit her and asked her to check the CCTV footage.
Following this, internal investigations commenced and led to a police report being lodged by a senior director of the preschool’s management division.
The accused was then suspended from her duties until 27 July 2022, after which she was redeployed to an administrative role at the centre.
For knowingly permitting the ill-treatment of a child, the accused could have been jailed up to eight years and/or fined up to S$8,000.
