Man burns son with spoon, kicks daughter till collarbone fractures
Unhappy with two of his children on separate occasions, a man used a heated metal spoon to burn his son’s right buttock and kicked his daughter’s shoulder, causing a fracture to her collarbone.
On Jan 10, the 41-year-old father of four pleaded guilty to two counts of ill-treating a child. He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victims’ identities.
At the time of the respective offences, the boy was around 11 years old and his older sister was 14.
The court heard that some time in or before 2019, the offender was in his Housing Board flat with his son when he became unhappy with the boy over some school-related issues.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan Lim said: “The accused took a metal spoon and heated it up on the stove. He then placed the spoon on the bare skin of (his son’s) right buttock. This caused (the child) to suffer pain and caused a burn and scarring.”
In June 2022, the man became unhappy with his daughter over an undisclosed matter and kicked the girl’s shoulder while she was sitting on the living room floor.
When the pain did not go away after about a week, the man and his wife took the girl to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital on July 2 that year.
The child was found to have a collarbone fracture and was given 14 days’ hospitalisation leave.
The man’s offences came to light after his son got involved in a traffic accident in August 2022 and the police interviewed the boy. The offender was arrested soon after.
On Jan 10, DPP Lim urged the court to sentence the offender to between 16 and 22 months’ jail.
Defence lawyer Riko Isaac, however, pleaded for his client to be given five months’ jail.
“(He) stepped down from his role as the disciplinarian since July 2022 and even took steps to leave the home for a period of about six weeks so that his children would not be housed elsewhere for their own safety by (the Child Protective Service),” Mr Isaac said.
The man will be sentenced in February.
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