Among the latest child abuse cases in Singapore comes another shocker. This time involving a maid who sang to a two-year-old toddler right before she walked over and kicked him in the forehead.
She also reportedly hit the boy on the mouth with a metal spoon. She did this so she could feed him when his mouth was open even when it made him cry.
The maid pleaded guilty to two charges for ill-treating the child and has been jailed for 14 months on Thursday (1 July). To protect the identity of the two-year-old boy, the 41-year-old helper cannot be named.
Child Abusing Cases: Maid Abuses 2-Year-Old By Kicking Him In The Head
The maid was given the responsibility of caring for her employer's two young sons. But during the court hearing it was found that she would apparently abuse them daily when their parents were not around.
Her offences came to light only after another maid from a different family recorded videos of the abuse on her phone. She later sent them to the maid's employer.
- First video taken on May 11, 2020
The footage shows the maid kicking the toddler in the stomach twice while carrying his one-year-old brother. - Second video taken on May 16, 2020
The maid is seen hitting the victim repeatedly on the mouth with a metal spoon as she feeds him porridge. She starts doing this when he didn't want to open his mouth. When she hit him with the back of the spoon, she would shove more porridge in his mouth as he opened his mouth to cries. She was caught hitting him at least three times in the video with one instance causing the boy to spit out porridge.
The other maid who managed to record the abuse said she had seen this happen multiple times and tried to get her to stop. - Third video taken on May 20, 2020
The maid is seen singing along to a song on her phone in the video when the younger brother begins to cry after the victim takes a toy away from him. She then walks over to them to pinch the victim's ear which makes him cry. While he is still crying and looking up at the maid, she suddenly kicks him on his forehead.
The parents filed a police report after they received the horrific videos.
The victim was eventually taken to the hospital where he was found to have suffered various injuries including scratches as well as bruises on his arms, legs and back.
Maid Sentenced To Jail For 13 Months
According to The Straits Times, Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheryl Yeo urged the court on Thursday to jail the maid for 13 months. She said the helper assaulted the two boys numerous times a day on a daily basis.
Through an interpreter in court, the maid claimed that she was under stress at the time and that she only wanted leniency, since she has three children of her own who depend on her. DPP Yeo then said that she should not give any weight to her claims of stress for this had no recognisable link to her abusing the two boys.
For child abusing cases and each ill-treatment meted out, the maid could have been jailed up to eight years or fined up to $8,000 or both.
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