SINGAPORE: The aunt of a man who repeatedly abused primary school pupils at a private educational facility she ran is facing charges for failing to protect the children in her care.
According to the court’s Integrated Case Management System on Aug 22, the woman, 46, faces two charges under the Children and Young Persons Act.
She cannot be named because doing so could identify the victims, who are protected by a gag order issued in her nephew’s child abuse case.
The man, a 31-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to nine years and 10 months’ jail and eight strokes of the cane on Aug 21 after pleading guilty to child abuse and other related charges.
According to charge sheets dated April 2024, the woman, a Malaysian who is a Singapore permanent resident, is accused of having care of a child and knowingly permitting the child to be ill-treated.
She also allegedly failed to take steps to protect the child, by continuing to allow her nephew to care for the child despite him admitting he had physically beaten the victim.
Court documents stated her alleged offences took place between February and March 2023.
Her case is fixed for a pre-trial conference on Aug 26.
Those who knowingly permit a child they have care of to be ill-treated by another person can be jailed for up to eight years, fined up to $8,000, or both.
The woman ran an educational facility that provided accommodation for students and workers, as well as management consultancy services for foreign students.
Her nephew was hired to work as a manager in 2016 and was responsible for taking care of students staying at the facility.
He taught the primary school pupils and checked their homework, despite not having any teaching or childcare qualifications.
While they were under his care, he punched the children, beat them with a clothes hanger until it broke on one occasion and even forced one of the victims – a six-year-old boy – to drink his own urine.
That boy was also made to maintain a push-up position from 3.45pm one day to the next morning. The prosecution said he was abused for 18 hours in one day.
His aunt took the boy to hospital after he complained of breathing difficulties.
He had suffered a lung injury caused by blunt force to his chest, which led to a build-up of fluid in his lungs.
The boy’s other injuries included muscle breakdown, severe hypertension caused by kidney failure and multiple rib fractures.
The man was arrested on March 14, 2023, when the hospital reported the boy’s injuries to the police.
The man also abused other children, including an 11-year-old boy whom he forced into a push-up position for around three hours.
The man then hit the boy with a hanger at least six times for failing to maintain the position.
He also punched a 10-year-old boy in the face multiple times, causing him to bleed, as the child could not answer a question in his homework. - Starits Times/ANN
