SINGAPORE: A woman is accused of abusing two toddlers at a preschool by trapping them either in a dark storeroom or behind a table, as well as assaulting them.
A second woman is accused of allowing one of the children to be ill-treated on one occasion.
The two accused parties and the preschool cannot be named in order to protect the two victims.
The alleged abuser, 28, was given six charges on Aug 3 of ill-treating two children in her care under the Children and Young Persons Act.
She is accused of trapping a two-year-old boy under a table at the preschool for about 15 minutes on Jun 22, 2022.
She then placed him inside a dark storeroom for six to seven minutes, before throwing four foam blocks into the storeroom from above while he was trapped inside, charge sheets allege.
That same day, she allegedly poked the face of a girl who was one year and eight months old, before slapping her face and pulling her onto her feet to push the child to the ground multiple times.
She also allegedly hit the girl’s face with foam blocks, rubbed tissue paper into her face forcefully, slapped her and pinched her cheeks violently.
The woman is accused of abusing the two toddlers again on a second occasion on Jun 27, 2022.
She allegedly pulled a chair that the two-year-old boy was seated on, causing him to fall to the ground. She then placed him on a chair and pushed him into a table.
That same morning, the woman allegedly shoved a table laden with objects onto the girl, trapping her. She then shoved the table multiple times into the girl who was one year and eight months old at the time.
Over about half an hour, the woman allegedly hit the girl multiple times on her face with a plastic divider while the toddler was trapped behind and underneath the table.
About 10 minutes after this, the woman allegedly turned her attention back to the boy, pinching his face forcefully and slapping him.
The woman’s lawyer told the court when she was charged that she was five months pregnant.
The second woman involved, also aged 28, faces one charge of failing to protect the girl from being ill-treated. This was in relation to the incident where the girl was hit with a plastic divider.
The cases are pending. The penalty for each charge of ill-treating a child under the Children and Young Persons Act, or permitting such ill-treatment, is a jail term of up to eight years, a fine of up to S$8,000, or both.