A 14-year-old teen in Singapore, named only as Ella in court documents, recently pleaded guilty to four charges including theft and cheating.
She was found to have participated in multiple “risky behaviours”, including vaping, drinking, and engaging in sexualised behaviour.
The judge found that Ella’s parents had inconsistent parenting styles, deeming them unfit to supervise her rehabilitation.
A Youth Court thus sentenced her to the Singapore Girls’ Home for 21 months on 6 Apr.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that Ella pleaded guilty to four charges in court. These were for stealing cosmetics from beauty care chain Watsons, as well as cheating others on Carousell by listing items she never delivered.
She was also reportedly part of a group attack which included hitting someone with a knuckle duster.
Five more charges were considered in court.
Source: Google Maps. For illustration purposes only.
Ella’s parents contacted non-profit organisation Singapore Children’s Society on 24 Feb 2022 to apply for the pre-Family Guidance Order (FGO) regime, after some of her crimes.
The regime benefits parents who need help guiding their children under 16.
After a screening session, the organisation found that Ella engaged in several risky behaviours.
These include:
The organisation also determined Ella’s parents had inconsistent parenting styles. While Ella’s mother was open to professional advice and made an effort to impose routine and discipline, her father often switched between strict and permissive parenting.
The family was then referred to a separate social service agency for therapy, but the teenager apparently failed to turn up on three occasions without valid reasons.
District Judge Amy Tung noted Ella was allegedly also uninterested in working on her academic plans and association with negative peers as she prioritised having fun.
On some occasions, she would even stray away from home for up to a week, lying about her whereabouts.
According to CNA, the Singapore Children’s Society taught Ella’s parents communication and co-parenting skills. However, their progress was hindered by acrimony between the pair, who were going through divorce proceedings.
The Child Protection Service similarly noted that Ella’s parents were unable to properly supervise and control Ella.
To make matters worse, Ella’s father suddenly decided to not apply for the FGO as Ella promised she would attend school, and said she would abide by her curfew.
Source: Ministry of Education, Singapore on Facebook. For illustration purposes only.
However, she did not keep to her promises.
In fact, her behaviour grew worse. The teenager allegedly posted pictures of herself with love bites, and sought a “sugar daddy” on social media.
Ella’s mother posted bail for her daughter when she was charged in Aug 2022. However, she withdrew herself as the bailor less than a month later.
Her mother decided it was safer to send Ella to the Singapore Girls’ Home after finding 50 canisters of butane gas in her room.
Source: Google Maps
However, Ella’s father went on and posted bail for her instead. This seemingly enabled the teen to continue with her old ways, as her mother found more butane gas in her room later.
Ella was remanded at Singapore Girls’ Home after the court nullified her bail two months later in Oct 2022.
The court gave her another chance to be bailed out with a higher bail amount, on the condition she abided by stricter curfew hours. Alas, she breached the bail conditions again and ran away from home.
Judge Tung noted that Ella was referred to the Child Protective Service six times in 2022. She was apparently a victim of dating violence in her relationship with an ex-boyfriend.
Ella was also subject to physical punishment at home. She was previously referred the service following an incident where her father pulled her hair, kicked her stomach, slapped her, and cursed at her. This was captured on CCTV footage.
After this bout of violence, Ella’s mother reportedly applied for a personal protection order and domestic exclusion order for Ella, but proceedings are still underway.
CNA reported that Ella’s father asked the court for probation instead. He offered to supervise his daughter and personally chaperone her to and from school.
He requested Ella grow up at home, citing she was:
a tragic victim of circumstances and has fallen prey to bad influences.
However, Judge Tung said Ella was neither receptive to nor progressing from community-based programmes.
She added that she was not convinced the parents could display the necessary familial support and supervision over Ella’s rehabilitation.
Furthermore, Ella had been able to bend family rules in the past due to communication gaps as a result of differences in rule setting and inconsistencies in updating each other about their daughter’s whereabouts.
Judge Tung also noted Ella’s father was not suitable to supervise her as he was “a doting father who downplayed the seriousness of Ella’s actions and often made excuses for her.”
She noted for example that he’d lied to the investigating probation officer that she had never inhaled butane gas. This was even though he’d caught her in the act and scolded her for it before.
Her father has filed an appeal against the court’s decision to send Ella to the Singapore Girls’ Home.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps and Google Maps.
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