SINGAPORE – A student’s supervisor, frustrated by a five-year-old child not following her instructions and misbehaving, grabbed him and dragged him back and forth across the classroom, at one point repeatedly slamming him onto the floor.

The woman, a 54-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to 26 weeks – or about six months – in prison on Friday (23 August) after pleading guilty under the Children and Young Persons Act to ill-treatment of a child or young person in her care.

At the time, she was working as a student counselor, caring for students attending a kindergarten program, including the boy who was housed at the facility on weekdays from 12:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

In order to protect the identity of the victim, the names of the now seven-year-old boy, the perpetrator and the kindergarten cannot be mentioned by court order.

WHAT HAPPENED

On February 15, 2022, the woman was assigned to prepare snacks for the kindergarten children and to look after them at tea time.

Then she noticed the boy and another student playing with water at the sink in the classroom.

She was upset because they didn’t follow her instructions to sit down and eat their snacks.

Instead, the two children filled bottles with water and poured the water onto the bookshelves.

Deputy District Attorney Natalie Chu said: “She was also angry because they had been so disruptive during the lunch break earlier.”

Shortly afterwards, around 3:10 p.m., the woman grabbed the boy by both arms and dragged him away from the sink.

He fell to the ground and tried to run away, but she continued to drag him across the ground and later pulled him back to his feet.

Then she grabbed him by the right arm and led him through the classroom back to the dishwashing area.

Court documents say she became “increasingly stressed” when the boy apparently did not cooperate when he saw the wet floor next to the sink.

She grabbed him by the arms and slammed him repeatedly into the ground for about six seconds, causing the lower half of his body to hit the wet ground several times.

Then she pulled him to a cabinet next to the sink, where she sat on the cabinet and held him by the shoulders in front of her.

Then she grabbed him by the hair and pushed the back of his head towards the ground, causing him to kneel down and curl up in pain.

She then pulled him up, grabbed his right arm tightly, and pushed her way through a small group of students to collect the boy’s belongings.

As he reached for his things, she snatched them away from him. The boy fell to his knees and refused to move.

She then dragged him across the classroom floor for about 40 seconds.

The incident was recorded by surveillance cameras in the classroom.

When the boy came home that night, his father noticed scratch marks on his face and neck.

The father asked him what happened and the boy said the stains were caused by the woman, but did not elaborate.

The next day, his parents notified the kindergarten management, who then discussed the recordings with the deputy headmaster.

The kindergarten director also informed the woman’s employer about the incident and the woman resigned on February 17, 2022. No further details were disclosed about her terms of employment or the agreement with the kindergarten.

Six days after the woman was fired, the kindergarten director filed a complaint with the police.

A day after the police report, the boy was taken to the National University Hospital for medical treatment. Doctors found a faint, superficial scratch measuring 0.5 cm near his head and a healing bruise above his right shoulder.

DPP Chu called for a prison sentence of eight to nine months, arguing that the perpetrator’s “violence” affected not only the victim and his parents, but also the children in the class, some of whom had witnessed the attack.

“Not only is it traumatic for these young children to witness such cruelty, but it also sends the wrong message that the use of physical violence is acceptable,” added DPP Chu.

She also said the victim was raped in a place where she should have felt “safe and secure.”

“Nothing can restore the loss of one’s innocence.”

The perpetrator appeared in court in person and was represented by Mr. Muhammad Hasif Abdul Aziz, a lawyer from AW Law.

At an earlier hearing, Mr Hasif had argued that his client should be fined a maximum of S$8,000 on the grounds that she had not received any “formal training” in childcare.

District Judge Lee Lit Cheng said that in cases like these, “deterrence” was key to protecting young children.

She noted that there was a “stark physical difference” between the perpetrator and the victim, but acknowledged that the perpetrator’s actions were not intentional.

However, she added that the woman’s lack of “formal education” was not a mitigating circumstance.

“A fine is completely inadequate,” District Judge Lee said.

For ill-treating a child or young person in her care, the woman could have faced a prison sentence of up to eight years or a fine of up to S$8,000, or both.