By now, we all know of the little Singapore girl who suffered a bruised and swollen ear after alleged abuse at her preschool.
Only, the kindergarten's version of events has added a twist in the tale.
Kindergarten responds to abuse accusations
According to Channel NewsAsia, the kindergarten's version of the story is drastically different.
The preschool said that the little girl told her teacher that she has been accidentally hurt by her brother at home. This was why teachers hadn't acted immediately.
Apparently, they had spotted bruises under the girl's eye on Feb 14.
In their statement they wrote, "When asked, (her) mother was aware of the bruises and explained it was caused by an accident at home involving (her) brother."
Then later, when they found more bruises on her ear, "(The girl) claimed she had been accidentally hurt by her brother at home."
"As (her) explanation of the bruises on her ear seemed consistent with her mother’s account of the bruises below her eye that morning, we did not take immediate action to inform the mother on the new-found bruises."
Later, the girl's mum had called to ask about the bruises on the ear, and whether it had happened during kindergarten time.
"We told her that (she) had behaved normally in school and we were not aware of any incident or circumstances at the kindergarten that could have caused those bruises on her ear."
The school says that it has not found any evidence of wrongdoing from CCTV footage or interviews with staff.
According to the school, the girl seemed to be fine on the next day.
"We also note that (she) returned to kindergarten on the next day and enjoyed the Chinese New Year celebrations with her friends."
Police investigating abuse in Singapore preschool
Mummy Claudia remains unconvinced by the school's explanations. She has posted an update, "The school mentioned about the bruise below my Daughter cheek...was a fading bruise, that was from a week ago."
"That’s because she accidentally bumped into her Brother while he was exercising. The bruise was so faded that it’s not very obvious. It’s very different from the fresh horrific bruise on her ear. There is simply NO reason to classify the different bruise as same bruise."
Also she strongly denies that the girl's brother had any part to play.
She reveals, "Her brothers are 10 years and 14 years older than her."
"They love her like a gem. There is no way the Brother would have done this because when they saw what happen to their sister, they are as heart broken as me. They can’t sleep well and spent the past one month comforting her at the expense of their upcoming exam and all."
"The most suspicious part was her form teacher's behaviour towards this whole incident. Despite being aware of my Daughter issue and police report made, she didn’t express any concern at all."
"Being my Daughter's form teacher and all, she didn’t dare to have eye contact with me, she didn’t come up and express concern of my Daughter, she didn’t even ask how is my Daughter what the doctor said etc."
Mummy Claudia Kwan had recently shared pictures of her daughter's ear on Facebook. She said that the little girl had been traumatised by the incident, and been having nightmares after the alleged abuse at her preschool.
She had reported the matter to police and the ECDA. The girl had also apparently, "told the police officer the exact teacher who pinched and twisted her ear."
“Ever since this incident, every night, my girl would wake up suddenly from her nightmares, crying out, “I’m scared, I’m sorry, please, stop, pain!” She has been shouting out her form teacher’s name too", Mummy Claudia had written.
Police and ECDA had confirmed that investigations were going on.
And now, this statement from the school.
Here's hoping that the truth wins.
(Source: Channel NewsAsia)