SINGAPORE: Angered by what he perceived as misbehaviour, a man slapped and used various objects to hit his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter, who has special needs, till she had bruises all over her body.
The abuse took place in the presence of the girl’s mother, who stood by and allowed it to happen.
On Monday (Aug 19), the man admitted to one charge of ill-treating the victim under the Children and Young Persons Act, while the woman pleaded guilty to knowingly permitting the abuse.
Both of them, who are aged 36, cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim’s identity.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Niranjan Ranjakunalan told the court that the victim has high-functioning autism, mild fluency disorder, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
In February 2020, the man moved in with the woman and the victim in their Housing Board flat. The couple’s relationship with the girl was close, with the girl even calling the man “Daddy”.
Shortly after the man moved in, the couple started to cane the victim with a hanger or a cane when they perceived she had misbehaved, such as not completing her school assignment, complaining about having to do household chores, not waking up for school or not turning off the alarm when it rang.
The deputy public prosecutor (DPP) cited seven incidents where the man or the couple caned the victim between June and August 2020.
On Aug 11, 2020, the girl’s teacher noticed cane marks on her body and scheduled a meeting with the woman on Aug 26, because the woman was not available on an earlier date.
Before the meeting took place, the abusive acts escalated on Aug 22, 2020.
That day, the man struck the victim on her arms and legs as she had lost her pocket money and performed poorly in school, among other reasons.
Said the DPP: “When the victim told (the man) that the cane would not work, (he) lost his temper and decided to hit the victim with a leather belt instead.”
In the presence of the girl’s mother, the man slapped the child’s face and hit her arms and legs with the leather belt about 20 times.
The victim subsequently had more than 10 bruises all over her body.
When the girl attended school two days later, she told her teacher about what the man had done, and said she was very scared to return to the flat.
The teacher informed her superiors, and the school called the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).
The same day, a child protection officer from MSF took the girl to the hospital, where she was hospitalised for 10 days.
The hospital referred the case to the police, and the couple was arrested the next day.
During investigations, the couple admitted that they “went overboard and punished the victim very harshly”, said the DPP.
A report in February 2021 stated the victim felt sad and fearful since the abuse, and had nightmares and recurring thoughts about it.
The couple will be sentenced on Sept 12.
For ill-treating a child, or knowingly permitting a child to be ill-treated, they could each be jailed for up to eight years, fined up to $8,000, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN