Former pre-school teacher jailed 10 months for abusing child with special needs, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
Singapore

Former pre-school teacher jailed 10 months for abusing child with special needs

This article is more than 12 months old

A former pre-school teacher who physically abused a four-year-old boy with special needs under her care was sentenced to 10 months’ jail on Wednesday.

In November 2022, she pleaded guilty to one charge of ill-treating the child who is now six years old.

The 52-year-old woman cannot be named owing to a gag order to protect his identity.

She started working at the school in 2013 and taught Mandarin. Her job included bathing and feeding the children.

She began teaching the boy in 2020 and was aware that he had been found to have delayed speech development. He had earlier been assessed to likely have autism.

At around 12.30pm on Dec 2, 2020, she escorted the pre-schoolers to a room for their nap time 

While her colleague attended to another child with special needs, she sat next to the boy to try and get him to sleep.

The offender, who was tired and had not eaten her lunch, became frustrated when he failed to doze off.

At about 12.35pm, she pulled him up by the shoulders and pushed him forward, causing him to roll on the floor.

When he sat up, she grabbed him by his left arm and dragged him across the floor.

She pulled his ears, scratching his neck in the process. He covered both his ears in pain.

Despite this, she pulled his left ear about three minutes later, and he cowered in pain.

She pushed his head up, grabbed his arms and turned him towards her before she pulled his ears again.

At 12.52pm, she pulled him towards her by the back of his T-shirt.

About two minutes later, she pushed him from the back, causing him to fall forward. After that, she pulled him towards her again.

Her colleague heard the boy crying during the incident, which was captured by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in the room.

When a maid came to pick him up at about 4.30pm, the offender lied, claiming she accidentally scratched his neck when he struggled while she was trying to pat him to sleep.

The mother lodged a complaint with the pre-school after she noticed multiple scratches on her son’s neck.

Later that day, the offender lied to the principal about the incident, but was later shown the CCTV footage.

On Dec 3, 2020, the principal told the mother that the offender admitted to handling the boy in a rough manner.

He was taken to hospital for medical attention on Dec 4, 2020 and his abuser was fired that day.

His mother alerted the police on Dec 5, 2020, and officers arrested the offender on July 21, 2022.

On Wednesday, she was offered bail of $10,000 and told to surrender at the State Courts on Jan 30 to begin serving her sentence.

COURT & CRIMEcrimeCRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN/MINORS