The topic of caning children as discipline remains highly controversial in Singapore. Police, however, arrested a man after he beat his nine-year-old son with two umbrellas.
He suspected the child of stealing money at a party and battered him with an umbrella. The beating resulted in numerous red marks and bruises on the victim’s body.
The man’s wife attempted to shield her son, but he struck both her and the young boy with a cane. Police arrested the man after others called to report on the commotion.
On 9 Nov, he pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt to a minor, with his sentencing due in two months.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the incident began on the night of 30 Nov 2022, when the boy attended a birthday party with his mother.
Before they left the party, the nine-year-old told his mother that he received a S$50 note from the birthday boy. Suspecting that he may have stolen and lied about it, the mother ordered her son to return the cash, which he did.
She later told her husband what happened after they got home. Upon returning home from work at about 11.30pm, the father reportedly picked up an umbrella and began beating his son’s palms and thighs.
Source: Objects of Use, for illustration purposes only
When his son began crying, his wife stepped in to get him to stop, but the 45-year-old locked the child out of the house instead.
The boy’s mother ended up opening the door and letting him back in. However, the man allegedly proceeded to beat his son with a bigger umbrella.
He then switched to using a cane, hitting his son on the hands and hips. His wife pleaded for him to stop and eventually tried to physically shield her child.
Apparently undeterred, the man struck her with the cane as well. After some time, he stopped hitting the two of them and left the house.
Source: Supermama, for illustration purposes only
A member of the public, who heard the commotion of the man scolding and hitting his child, who was crying, and his wife who was screaming, called the police sometime before midnight.
Police officers later arrived and sent the victims to the hospital. They arrested the boy’s father when he returned home.
At the hospital, healthcare workers found “red liner marks” all over the young boy’s body, including nine on his palms, forearms, and calf, noted CNA.
The were also reportedly red marks and bruising on his hips.
The accused pleaded guilty to his charge of voluntarily causing hurt on Thursday (9 Nov). The judge will also take another charge for injuring his wife into consideration for future sentencing.
In court, the prosecution highlighted the use of three objects and the use of excessive force on the man’s own son, who’s a minor.
Thus, they requested six to eight weeks’ jail.
The defendant’s lawyers asked instead for more lenient non-jail sentences for their client. In the mitigation plea, they alleged that the father attempted to discipline his child with “correctional force”.
This was supposedly intended to teach the boy the “right values” instead of stealing and lying.
The offender claimed to have become “overwhelmed with emotions” out of disappointment and so used disproportionate force. He further alleged that he hit his wife by accident.
“I did not set out to hurt my family and I am sorry for what I have done,” he added. The court will sentence the man on 29 Jan 2024, reported Shin Min Daily News.
In a similar case, a mother beat her son with canes and hangers, causing a judge to grant him a personal protection order.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News, for illustration purposes only.
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