A man who was already under police investigation for mistreating his 10-year-old stepdaughter continued to subject her to physical mistreatment, resulting in her hospitalization.
On Friday, the 33-year-old man pleaded guilty to two counts of ill-treating a child and was subsequently sentenced earlier today (7 July) to 12 months in jail. Another similar charge was considered during the sentencing process.
To protect the victim’s identity, the accused’s name and the location of the home cannot be disclosed.
The victim, who is now 12 years old, is the biological daughter of the accused’s wife. The accused and his wife have been living together since 2014. Court documents revealed that the first incident occurred on February 8, 2019, when the man lifted the girl and threw her to the floor twice, causing bruises on her elbow and lower back.
Despite being under investigation for this offense, he continued to use physical force against her. According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Benedict Teong, on August 9, 2021, after returning home from work around 8:30 PM, the accused asked the girl if she had eaten the spaghetti that had been cooked earlier in the day. She initially claimed to have eaten it, but he later discovered it uneaten in the microwave.
DPP Teong stated, “(The accused) then asked the victim about it and the victim kept quiet. The accused then became angry, perceiving that the victim was lying.” He proceeded to kick her, causing her to fall, and even stepped on her body, assuming she was merely pretending.
Eventually, she apologized to him. Later that night, around 11:40 PM, she approached him and requested medicated oil for her injuries. While applying the oil, he noticed a bruise on her body.
The next day, the mother came home from work and smelled medicated oil before finding out that the girl had been kicked by her stepfather.
Despite being under investigation once again, the man committed another offense five months later.
On January 29, 2022, at approximately 6 PM, the man saw the victim using an iPad, which the girl said that she had only begun using it, but her sister told the man that she gave her the iPad earlier that morning. Enraged by what he perceived as a lie, he kicked her twice on the left side of her body.
“The second time he kicked her, she fell to the ground and hit her head on the edge of a speaker placed on the floor, causing a deep cut above her right eyebrow,” explained DPP Teong. Fearing the severity of the injury, he used a towel to stop the bleeding and called for an ambulance.
He falsely claimed that the girl had been injured by glass. The victim sustained a 4cm gash over her right eyebrow and a bruise on her left side, requiring stitches and a 10-day hospitalization.
DPP Teong argued that the accused had deliberately engaged in acts likely to cause unnecessary physical harm, constituting ill-treatment of his stepdaughter. Offenders convicted of ill-treating a child can face a maximum fine of $8,000 or up to eight years’ imprisonment, or both.