SINGAPORE: After a nine-year-old boy defaecated and soiled himself, his angry mother hit him on the head with a shower head while bathing him.
The 36-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect her son’s identity, was sentenced to 15 months and 12 weeks’ jail on Wednesday (April 22) after pleading guilty to one charge over ill-treating a child and another charge over a rash act involving killer litter.
Six more charges over similar offences were taken into consideration in sentencing.
Court documents stated that the woman had two sons, aged eight and nine at the time of the offences, who would stay with her on weekdays.
In September 2024, her elder son, identified as V2 in court documents, went to the market to buy noodles. During the trip, he soiled his pants.
When he reached home, his mother asked him to go to the bathroom, where she bathed him. As she was angry that he had soiled himself, she used the shower head to hit him on the head once and then hit his head against the wall multiple times.
The boy had cuts on his head and was bleeding profusely. The woman bandaged his head but did not seek medical treatment for his injuries.
On Dec 2, 2024, a doctor from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) informed the police about a possible case of child abuse that had occurred at the woman’s home.
The report was made after the woman’s sons told their biological father, the woman’s former boyfriend, that they had been slapped while staying with her.
The former boyfriend informed the Ministry of Social and Family Development and child protection services. A child protection officer took the two boys to KKH.
Threw boyfriend’s phone and standing fan down HDB block
In an earlier incident on Nov 24, 2025, another man, who was the woman’s boyfriend and identified as W1 in court documents, went to her home to spend the night.
The next day, she became upset while looking for her medicine. When W1 offered to help, she scolded him.
During the argument, the woman threw a standing fan and a kettle onto the floor in the flat.
W1 then returned to his home – another flat in the same block – but realised he had left his phone at the woman’s home.
When he went back to retrieve the phone, the woman said she had thrown it to the ground at the foot of the block.
W1 went downstairs and saw the standing fan and his phone on the ground. A passer-by called the police on the same day.
During investigations, the woman initially claimed that her boyfriend had flung the items down from the block after he got drunk and became violent. She later changed her account when confronted with photos of the items.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chan Yi Cheng sought a sentence of 18 months and 12 weeks’ jail for the woman.
He said the woman, as a parent, had a moral obligation to care for the child, and the acts of abuse were a betrayal of the trust the child had placed in her.
Regarding her rash-act charge, DPP Chan said: “Killer litter cases are serious as items thrown from height from a high-rise building such as an HDB block pose significant safety risks to persons at the void deck/at the ground floor of the block.”
He added that the woman was previously convicted of a similar offence and sentenced to six weeks’ jail on Aug 1, 2025.
In mitigation, the woman, who was represented by a public defender, asked for leniency as she had not seen her sons for more than a year and was worried they would be adopted by someone else.
For a rash act that endangers human life and personal safety, an offender can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to $2,500 or both.
An offender convicted of ill-treating a child can be fined up to $8,000 or jailed up to eight years, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN
