A 32-year-old Singaporean man pleaded guilty to three charges including voluntarily causing grievous hurt, with another two more charges considered for his sentencing.

He was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months imprisonment, along with 6 strokes of the cane.

The man had beaten his stepson for lying to him, resulting in the boy suffering multiple fractures and a ruptured eardrum – he beat the boy despite knowing that the child had undergone ear surgery a year prior.

The victim and the stepfather cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act, protecting individuals under the age of 18.

What happened?

The man worked as a logistics officer and a Grab driver, and would often get angry at his stepson because he felt that the boy was naughty and prone to telling lies.

The man would scold the boy, punch him and use a belt to hit him, in order to “discipline” him – the boy was resultantly scared of the man and frightened whenever he was with his stepfather when his mother was out working.

On 12 November 2019, the man found out that the boy hadn’t eaten and lied that he didn’t ask for it, and he then got angry at the boy for lying.

He then punched the boy’s left face, slapped the right side of his face, elbowed the boy in the back and punched him in the body.

The man then dragged the boy out of bed and into his bedroom and closed the door after the child refused to answer his questions, only replying to the family’s maid.

The man grabbed his left wrist and twisted it as the boy screamed in pain, applying more and more pressure – the boy ended up being inside the room for 2 hours.

The boy was crying and screaming so loudly that the maid was able to hear it from outside the room

The boy was subsequently hospitalised for 10 days and the police were also informed.

The next day, the boy was found with injuries including a fractured wrist and forearm, a laceration in his kidney as well as an eardrum which had ruptured.

Separate incident

In a separate incident back in 2016, the man had pointed a knife at the boy after he got into an argument with his wife about how he disciplined the child.

The mother of the boy felt that the man’s methods of discipline seemed like he was trying to kill her son.

After the boy was discharged, he moved in with his maternal grandparents and then developed a fear of leaving his home alone, frightened of bumping into his stepfather who lived just a few blocks away.

The boy’s grandfather had to accompany him every time the boy left for school and returned home and the child even experienced recurring nightmares about his stepfather.