- Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: Feeling agitated about what had happened to him earlier, a recalcitrant offender in July 2024 decided to vent his frustration on someone he did not know, and kicked a seven-year-old girl, who fell to the ground.
Without revealing details, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tan Pei Wei said that Udaya Tay Zheng Zhong, 35, had earlier committed at least four other violence-related offences in 2018 and 2022.
She added: “All these incidents show the accused’s tendency to start disputes with strangers or even outright assault them over perceived minor slights.”
For his latest offence, Tay was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on Tuesday (April 22) after he pleaded guilty to assaulting the girl.
Court documents did not disclose details about the incident that had agitated him, but at around 5pm on July 23, 2024, he saw the child coming out of a lift on the ground floor of a Boon Lay block of flats.
DPP Tan told the court: “The accused deliberately kicked the victim in the leg, causing her to feel pain and fall to the ground.
“The accused did not render any assistance towards (her). Instead, he immediately entered the lift and (closed the doors).”
The girl’s father, who had been waiting for his daughter nearby, went towards the lift.
In a bid to avoid detection, Tay then pressed buttons for multiple floors so that the father would not know where he lived.
The father alerted the police, and the girl was later found with a bruise on her left shin. She did not seek medical attention.
Since this incident, she has been afraid to take the lift alone and has to be accompanied by her parents.
The authorities managed to establish Tay’s identity with the help of footage from cameras in the vicinity, and he was arrested on April 8, 2025.
On April 22, DPP Tan asked the court to sentence him to between six weeks’ and eight weeks’ jail, and highlighted that the girl had suffered emotional harm.
Tay’s bail has been set at $5,000, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on April 24.
For assaulting a child below 14 years old, an offender can be jailed for up to six years and fined up to $10,000. - The Straits Times/ANN
