Child abused by family
Channel News Asia reported the 10-year old boy had HOT cooking oil splashed on him by his grandaunt, and suffered permanent disfigurement to his head and face. He also suffered physical abuses by her 3 daughters.
The Straits Times also informed us that the three younger women – together with their 45-year-old father who is divorced – are accused of splashing hot water on the boy’s body at their home in Hougang in 2009. They had also allegedly snipped his fingers with a pair of scissors and pressed a heated spatula on his body in February this year.
The 44-year-old woman and her three daughters, aged 14, 20 and 24, were charged on Friday for child abuse. They face between one and 15 charges of voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
All four have been remanded for psychiatric examination and their cases will be mentioned again on July 15.
In his 2007 speech, ‘Creating a Singapore fit for children’, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said “Whilst the number (of child abuse cases) is small relative to the entire cohort of children in Singapore, we have a duty of care towards these children. Every case is a future robbed…”
In the last 6 months alone, we have reported quite a few incidents concerning child abuse and neglect.
That’s one too many for me. I can’t imagine what life must be like for the poor young boy to suffer such an awful fate. If you know of a child who is being abused, please call the Singapore Child Protection Services Hotline (MCYS) – 1800-258 6378 or Tinkle Friend – 1800 – 2744788.
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