SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old man was on Friday (Jul 8) jailed for 13 months and one week for assaulting his two young sons then aged one and six.
The man cannot be named to protect the identities of the two victims. His lawyers told the court that his intention was to discipline his sons.
He pleaded guilty to one charge each of ill-treating a child and voluntarily causing hurt, as well as a charge of theft.
Another charge of voluntarily causing hurt to the older boy was considered for sentencing.
The court heard that in May 2020, the man saw his one-year-old twin son and daughter fighting in the cot.
He got upset and hit his younger son three to four times on the arm and leg.
A few weeks later on May 28, 2020, the man grew frustrated with his older step-son, then four, while teaching him.
He slapped and caned the boy on his arm, leg and back and pushed him, causing him to hit a fan.
The boy sustained bruises and marks around his body, including his head, cheek, neck, back, arm, shoulder, hand, thighs and legs.
This assault formed the charge taken into consideration.
On May 29, 2020, during a police interview about this second assault, the man’s wife informed the police about the earlier incident with her younger son.
The baby was then taken to the hospital for a medical exam, and a 1cm-long reddish lesion was found on his right thigh.
REOFFENDED ON BAIL
On Feb 26 this year, the man again physically abused his older step-son when he got angry with the boy for kicking the family’s maid.
The man brought the boy, then aged six, into a room and slapped, pinched, punched and kicked him.
The boy suffered bruises on his face, neck, lips, shin and forearm, which were found to be consistent with blunt force trauma. He cried throughout the assault.
The boy’s mother rushed home when she could not find her son anywhere in the house while monitoring surveillance footage of the flat on her phone.
She was worried that her husband may have assaulted the boy again, and when she saw bruises on the boy after reaching home, she called the police.
At the time of this assault, the man was on bail for the earlier incidents involving his sons as well as a theft offence, and had taken a court date to plead guilty to the charges.
He committed the theft on Apr 12, 2021, when he saw a man who was drunk and sleeping at a table in a coffee shop at about 1.30am.
He took the victim’s bag and kept his wallet, which contained at least S$100 as well as his identity card, driving licence and condominium access card.
The bag also contained the victim’s car and house keys. After waking up at around 3am, with the help of a security officer, the victim reviewed security footage and spotted the man taking his bag.
He found his bag, without his wallet, discarded about 200m away from the coffee shop that morning, and his car keys were found at the pavement in his condominium in the late afternoon.
The offender was arrested about three weeks later. He later gave the victim’s wallet to police and gave restitution of S$200 for the cash inside and costs of replacing the victim’s bank cards.
SENTENCING
Deputy Public Prosecutor Norine Tan sought 10 to 12 months’ jail for the man’s assault of his older step-son, a short jail term for the assault of his younger son, and four to six months’ jail for the theft.
She highlighted that the assault of the older step-son involved serious acts of slapping, pinching, punching and kicking, and was not a fleeting attack.
She pointed out that the man had a similar charge against the boy taken into consideration, and reoffended while on bail.
On the theft charge, Ms Tan also pointed out that the man had many prior property-related and dishonesty-related offences.
Defence counsels Sim Bing Wen and Anita Kaur Gill asked for lower sentences of six to eight months’ jail for the assault on the older step-son and two months’ jail for the theft.
They argued that the man was remorseful for his actions, loved all his children and worked hard to provide for his family. They said that he was the main disciplinarian of the family.
“There were times when juggling the demands of his work as a food delivery rider with the need to be a caregiver and disciplinarian to the children overwhelmed him and caused him to overreact,” said the lawyers.
They added that his first assault against his older step-son was “motivated solely by his intention to discipline and educate (the boy) for his own good”.
According to the man, after returning home from a long shift he learnt that the boy had asked the maid for a doughnut, which she did not give. The boy then kicked the maid, and she was crying.
The offender also submitted a handwritten letter to the court saying that his intention was to make his child a “better boy” and admitting that his ways were wrong.
Mr Sim sought to make a distinction between his client and other offenders, arguing that his actions were “not senseless and disproportionate” and he did not attack them in an “unprovoked way”.
But Ms Tan countered that the man’s assault of his children must be seen as disproportionate, and that disciplining a child was not justification for parents to use excessive force on their children.
In sentencing, District Judge Brenda Chua said that acts of violence against children should not be tolerated.
Ill-treatment of a child is punishable with up to eight years’ jail and a fine of up to S$8,000.
The penalty for voluntarily causing hurt is up to two years’ jail, a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.
Those guilty of theft can be jailed for up to three years and fined.