Almost 10 years’ jail for S’porean who abused primary school pupils, forced 6-year-old boy to drink urine

SINGAPORE – A man who abused primary school pupils under his charge at a private educational facility was sentenced to nine years and 10 months’ jail and eight strokes of the cane on Aug 21.

He punched the children, beat them with a clothes hanger until it broke on one occasion, and even forced one of the victims – a six-year-boy – to drink his own urine.

That boy was also made to keep a push-up position from 3.45pm one day to the next morning.

As a result of the man’s abuse, the boy suffered rib fractures, kidney failure and had to undergo dialysis for nine days.

The 31-year-old Singaporean had pleaded guilty on July 9 to child abuse, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and providing false or misleading information to the Ministry of Manpower.

He cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the identity of the children, who were aged between six and 11 at the time of the offences in 2023.

As the judge was delivering the sentence, the offender kept his head down and occasionally looked towards the gallery at those who came to court.

Deputy public prosecutors Timotheus Koh and Cheronne Lim said the offender had abused the trust placed in him to care for the victims and subjected them to violence.

Highlighting his abuse of the six-year-old boy, the prosecutors said: “The accused cruelly deprived him of food, mocked him, made him drink his own urine, hit him hundreds of times with a hanger, stomped on him, kicked him in the ribs, forced him to hold a stress position for more than 18 hours, and after all this, intentionally deprived him of medical attention for three days because he feared that the police would be alerted to the abuse.”

The prosecutors added that the boy suffered critical, life-threatening injuries because of this.

18 hours of abuse in one day

The man’s aunt ran an educational facility which provided accommodation for students and workers, as well as management consultancy services for foreign students.

He was hired to work as a manager in 2016, and was responsible for taking care of students staying at the facility.

He taught the primary school pupils and checked on their homework, despite not having any teaching or childcare qualifications.

The prosecution said he regularly punished the six-year-old pupil from China after the boy moved into the facility in January 2023.

The boy had to hold himself in a push-up position for long periods of time, was hit with a hanger, slept in the toilet, and was given only bread and water to consume.

On March 9, 2023, the man asked the boy to get into a push-up position while studying English. The boy held the position for over an hour before he cried out that he was hungry.

The man allowed other students to eat their dinner while the boy was in a push-up position from 3.45pm until the next morning.

While in that position, the boy was punched and stomped at 1.15am. Between 2am and 7am, the man placed a chair on the boy and sat on it, forcing him to lower his body in the push-up position.

When the boy needed to use the toilet, the man forced him to urinate into a basin and made him drink the urine when he was thirsty.

At around 6am on March 10, 2023, he called the boy’s father to seek permission to discipline him, without mentioning physical punishment or telling the father what he had already inflicted on the boy.

The boy’s father gave his permission.

The man did not allow the boy to go to school that day, and abused him throughout the day with a clothes hanger or his hands.

He used so much force that one of the hangers broke, but he continued hitting the boy with the broken hanger and stomped on his body.

In the evening, the child became too weak to stand, so the man carried him to the toilet and sprayed water on him.

When the man’s aunt returned at 7pm, she told him to stop the abuse, but he continued hitting and kicking the child. He stopped only when his aunt carried the boy out of the toilet.

The prosecution said the boy’s abuse on March 10, 2023, lasted around 18 hours.

The man prevented his aunt from taking the boy to hospital as he was afraid of being arrested.

But his aunt eventually did so on March 14, 2023, after the boy complained of breathing difficulties.

There, doctors said the boy’s vital signs were severely abnormal, and he was immediately transferred to the children’s intensive care unit where he remained until March 28, 2023.

The boy had suffered from lung injury caused by blunt force to his chest, which led to a build-up of fluids in his lungs. He also had kidney failure caused by blunt force to his back, which required nine days of dialysis.

Other injuries included muscle breakdown, severe hypertension caused by kidney failure, and multiple rib fractures.

He was eventually discharged on April 28, 2023.

Other victims

The man also abused other children.

In January 2023, he told an 11-year-old Chinese national pupil to complete his mathematics homework over a public holiday.

He became angry after spotting mistakes and forced the child into a push-up position for around three hours. During that incident, the man hit him with a hanger at least six times for failing to maintain the position.

On March 1, 2023, the man was helping a 10-year-old Chinese national pupil with his homework when he noticed that some of it was unfinished. He punched and slapped the boy at least five times.

He also forced the child into a push-up position and hit him with a hanger.

When the boy could not answer a question in his homework, the man punched him in the face multiple times, causing him to bleed.

Accusing the boy of feigning injury, he kicked and hit him with the hanger.

The boy’s teachers in school saw his bruises and informed his parents on March 2, 2023. A police report was lodged the next day. A doctor’s report recorded multiple bruises on his body.