Poor little boy! He didn’t deserve that!
A 35-year-old Singaporean man was recently sentenced to four months’ jail today (6 December) for beating his son up over some mistakes he made in his homework.
For illustration purposes | source: st. Louis radio
According to Channel News Asia, the incident happened at around 9pm on 4 August 2017, when the man’s wife was out for dinner with her friends. Being under the father’s care, the son sat at the dining table attempting to complete his homework while the father was watching television.
After an hour had passed, the boy approached his father for help with his homework. The father then responded by telling him to think of the answers on his own. The son kept guessing the wrong answers and this triggered the father to beat him.
For illustration purposes | source: pa&ma
He left the dining room only to return with a hanger. He forcefully grabbed his son’s arm causing him to fall to the ground and proceeded to pull him by his left leg, which led to the son being upside down. He then started hitting him with the hanger.
The man also kicked his son twice while shouting,
“You know why you don’t know (the answer)? Because you’re stupid!”
He threw the hanger at his son and kicked him once more before chasing him into the bedroom only to beat him again.
Luckily, the incident was recorded on CCTV in the dining room. When the mother returned home, the son told her of the incident and she subsequently retrieved the CCTV footage.
For illustration purposes | source: malay mail
The boy was later admitted to the hospital with bruises on his body, which included some hook-shaped ones measuring 3cm and 6cm.
“It is clear that it was not done simply in a controlled manner for the purpose of discipline, but out of rage,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Jotham Tay, as reported by Channel News Asia.
The man’s lawyer, T U Naidu countered back by saying the incident caused the man’s relationship with his son to have “greatly improved”. Hmm, how does beating your kid up improve the relationship?
For illustration purposes | source: thoughtco.
“It is admitted that he lost his cool and my client is greatly remorseful,” he added.
However, it looks like the judge disagrees. District Judge Eddy Tham was quoted by Malay Mail as saying,
“The acts of violence were relentless and extreme in this case. He continued (beating the boy) despite the child’s pleas.”
The father has now been charged under the Children and Young Parsons Act after pleading guilty in June to ill-treating the boy. He will start serving his sentence on 11 February 2019, after Chinese New Year, and is out on S$15,000 (approx. RM45,600) bail. Apart from that, the man and his wife are currently undergoing divorce proceedings.
What are your thoughts on this incident? Let us know in the comments!
Also read: 10yo Girl Allegedly Molested and Abused at a Welfare Home in Temerloh
