SINGAPORE: A preschool teacher who trapped two toddlers under a table, slapped them and treated them roughly was sentenced to 19 months' jail on Monday (May 5).
The offender and the preschool cannot be named due to a court order protecting the identities of the two young victims.
The woman, now 30, was fired by the preschool on Jun 29, 2022, two days after the last incident of abuse.
She pleaded guilty to three charges of ill-treating a child, with another three similar charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
Last month, her colleague was sentenced to two weeks' jail for passively watching while the woman abused one of the children.
On Monday, the prosecution played closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the abuse to a closed courtroom, with media and members of the public allowed back in only after it had ended.
The acts captured on video prompted District Judge Eddy Tham to say that "the statement of facts made for painful reading, but the video footages made it much worse".
The offender started working in the preschool in July 2020, caring for infants under 18 months. In January 2022, she started teaching a play-group class for children aged 18 to 36 months.
The two victims were a girl aged about one year and nine months and a boy aged about two years and one month at the time of the offences.
Both attended the preschool every weekday and were regularly under the offender's care.
The first incident took place at about 10am on Jun 22, 2022.
The boy was sitting on the floor near the woman who was seated on a chair. She pulled him near her and then pulled a table towards them until it hit the back of the boy's head.
She then shoved the boy's head under the table, causing him to be trapped there for about 13 minutes. The toddler emerged only when the woman dragged him out by his arm. He started bawling as a result.
Irritated, the woman got up and pushed the boy several times to get him to walk forward. She wiped the tears off his face roughly with tissue paper, then dragged him into a storeroom at about 10.20am.
The storeroom was not lit inside and contained equipment that was not safe for children, including a ladder, bleach, cleaning fluids and insecticide.
The boy remained alone in the storeroom while the offender's colleague squatted outside to keep watch.
It was not stated in court documents if the storeroom door was closed but later, the offender took a chair to the entrance of the room, stood on it and started dropping foam blocks into the room through an opening above the door.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ariel Tan, who referred to the CCTV footage, said that the offender was "grinning away" as she did this.
She let the boy out of the storeroom at around 10.25am, about five minutes or so after he was dragged there.
Views of a storeroom in a preschool where a male toddler was placed and had foam blocks thrown at him. (Photos: Court documents)
Later that morning at about 10.45am, the offender abused the second victim by smacking the girl's face, pushing the chair on which she sat and hitting her arm.
She did this because the girl had called out to a teacher in charge of another class even though the offender had told her not to do so.
Some minutes later, the offender also shoved the girl on the arm and poked her cheek while scolding her.
When the girl stayed rooted to the spot, the offender slapped her cheek forcefully, causing her to cry.
Frustrated with the cries, the woman pulled the girl off the chair and pushed her, causing her to fall.
She dragged the girl up and pushed her to the ground, doing this a few times. When the girl sobbed, she ignored the child.
Later, she repeatedly hit the girl's cheeks and head with foam blocks, shoved the girl's face with tissue papers that she had used to wipe her tears, smacked her face and roughly pinched her cheeks.
On the morning of Jun 27, 2022, the woman abused the two children again.
At about 10.20am, the boy lost his balance and slid off a chair. The offender hoisted him back onto the chair while he cried.
She pushed the chair towards the table, causing his midriff to hit it, and then pulled the table to wedge him firmly between the table and the chair.
Later, she also used a pen to hit his hand multiple times, slapped him and pinched his cheeks forcefully.
At about 10.45am, the offender picked up the girl roughly and put her behind a table surrounded by chairs. The girl sat on the ground with her back to the wall.
At this point the woman lowered the blinds, which had the effect of obscuring the public's view of the classroom, the prosecution said.
The woman then used her leg to push the table and chairs towards the girl, which left the toddler completely trapped by the furniture.
The offender also placed a plastic divider on top of the girl's head to prevent her from looking out and calling to another teacher at the far end of the room.
Later, she pulled the girl under the table to ensure she was trapped under it. When she noticed the girl crawling out, she ran back and pushed her back under it.
The girl tried her best to resist by pushing the table away from her, but the offender shoved the table back towards the wall, at one point causing the girl to suffer a blow.
With the girl trapped between the table and the wall, the woman continued trying to use the plastic divider to block her view of the classroom.
At one point, when the girl did not stop crying, the woman hit her face multiple times with the plastic divider. She also hit the girl's head with it.
After the girl went home on Jun 27, 2022, her mother discovered some bruises on her face.
The mother used the school's online messaging system to ask her daughter's teachers what had happened and uploaded two photographs of the girl's face.
The next day, the offender replied that the girl "did not (have) any incident in school yesterday and she was fine just for as usual she cried a little asking for the both of you".
Despite the teacher's denial, the preschool's principal started an investigation when she became aware of the mother's query.
The matter was escalated to the preschool's headquarters, which made a police report against the offender a month later.
After the abuse, the girl started experiencing interrupted sleep. She would start crying and whining in her sleep in the middle of the night.
This would happen every night to two or three times a week.
The girl's bond with her father also suffered for a few months because the offender had told her that her father allowed the teacher to beat her.
The boy developed a tendency to hide under a table or go into a dark room and sit in a corner whenever he was disciplined at home.
"He would sit down with his arms wrapped around his knees while sulking and he would not tell his mother why he hid in dark rooms or under a table," DPP Tan said.
The prosecution sought 20 to 24 months' jail, while defence lawyer Vinit Chhabra argued for eight to 10 months' jail if the judge deemed imprisonment to be warranted.
DPP Tan stressed the "exceptional vulnerability" of the victims given their small statures and tender ages, which meant that they were unable to verbalise what had happened to them.
She argued that the offender did "the exact opposite" of what she was supposed to do as a preschool teacher and highlighted the woman's abuse of her position.
This made the abuse hard to detect and the circumstances were conducive for it to continue and potentially escalate, DPP Tan added. She also said that it was fortuitous that the authorities intervened before that.
In mitigation, Mr Chhabra said he was instructed by his client that it was the practice in the preschool to punish children by keeping them under the table or in the storeroom.
His client also said that the authorities went to the preschool and warned other teachers against such practices after the abuse was discovered, which showed that there was "follow-up" on this, Mr Chhabra added.
DPP Tan argued that this claim was false and not backed by evidence. It also did not explain why the preschool's principal investigated the incident and later fired the offender after the abuse came to light.
Judge Tham rejected the defence's argument. He said it was "unbelievable" to hear that this was the preschool's usual practice of punishing children and that the offender as a teacher would know not to treat young children this way.
To the point Mr Chhabra raised that his client was under considerable stress at the time of her offences, Judge Tham said that he failed to see how stress at home would cause the woman to resort to abuse.
He also pointed to the recorded footage showing that she was able to treat other children in the class well.
He added that it was shocking to see how the girl was "systematically targeted for a prolonged period" by the offender, and "even more shocking" to see the contrast with the playful way in which she treated the other children.
The judge noted the emotional trauma that the offender had caused the victims, saying that the impact extended beyond the children to their parents and other young children in the class who witnessed her "acts of hostility".
The woman was granted a deferment of about one week to start serving her sentence, and remains out on a higher bail amount of S$20,000 (US$15,000).
The punishment for ill-treating a child is up to eight years in jail or a fine of up to S$8,000, or both.
Continue reading...
The offender and the preschool cannot be named due to a court order protecting the identities of the two young victims.
The woman, now 30, was fired by the preschool on Jun 29, 2022, two days after the last incident of abuse.
She pleaded guilty to three charges of ill-treating a child, with another three similar charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
Last month, her colleague was sentenced to two weeks' jail for passively watching while the woman abused one of the children.
On Monday, the prosecution played closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the abuse to a closed courtroom, with media and members of the public allowed back in only after it had ended.
The acts captured on video prompted District Judge Eddy Tham to say that "the statement of facts made for painful reading, but the video footages made it much worse".
FIRST DAY
The offender started working in the preschool in July 2020, caring for infants under 18 months. In January 2022, she started teaching a play-group class for children aged 18 to 36 months.
The two victims were a girl aged about one year and nine months and a boy aged about two years and one month at the time of the offences.
Both attended the preschool every weekday and were regularly under the offender's care.
The first incident took place at about 10am on Jun 22, 2022.
The boy was sitting on the floor near the woman who was seated on a chair. She pulled him near her and then pulled a table towards them until it hit the back of the boy's head.
She then shoved the boy's head under the table, causing him to be trapped there for about 13 minutes. The toddler emerged only when the woman dragged him out by his arm. He started bawling as a result.
Irritated, the woman got up and pushed the boy several times to get him to walk forward. She wiped the tears off his face roughly with tissue paper, then dragged him into a storeroom at about 10.20am.
The storeroom was not lit inside and contained equipment that was not safe for children, including a ladder, bleach, cleaning fluids and insecticide.
The boy remained alone in the storeroom while the offender's colleague squatted outside to keep watch.
It was not stated in court documents if the storeroom door was closed but later, the offender took a chair to the entrance of the room, stood on it and started dropping foam blocks into the room through an opening above the door.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ariel Tan, who referred to the CCTV footage, said that the offender was "grinning away" as she did this.
She let the boy out of the storeroom at around 10.25am, about five minutes or so after he was dragged there.
Views of a storeroom in a preschool where a male toddler was placed and had foam blocks thrown at him. (Photos: Court documents)
Later that morning at about 10.45am, the offender abused the second victim by smacking the girl's face, pushing the chair on which she sat and hitting her arm.
She did this because the girl had called out to a teacher in charge of another class even though the offender had told her not to do so.
Some minutes later, the offender also shoved the girl on the arm and poked her cheek while scolding her.
When the girl stayed rooted to the spot, the offender slapped her cheek forcefully, causing her to cry.
Frustrated with the cries, the woman pulled the girl off the chair and pushed her, causing her to fall.
She dragged the girl up and pushed her to the ground, doing this a few times. When the girl sobbed, she ignored the child.
Later, she repeatedly hit the girl's cheeks and head with foam blocks, shoved the girl's face with tissue papers that she had used to wipe her tears, smacked her face and roughly pinched her cheeks.
SECOND DAY
On the morning of Jun 27, 2022, the woman abused the two children again.
At about 10.20am, the boy lost his balance and slid off a chair. The offender hoisted him back onto the chair while he cried.
She pushed the chair towards the table, causing his midriff to hit it, and then pulled the table to wedge him firmly between the table and the chair.
Later, she also used a pen to hit his hand multiple times, slapped him and pinched his cheeks forcefully.
At about 10.45am, the offender picked up the girl roughly and put her behind a table surrounded by chairs. The girl sat on the ground with her back to the wall.
At this point the woman lowered the blinds, which had the effect of obscuring the public's view of the classroom, the prosecution said.
The woman then used her leg to push the table and chairs towards the girl, which left the toddler completely trapped by the furniture.
The offender also placed a plastic divider on top of the girl's head to prevent her from looking out and calling to another teacher at the far end of the room.
Later, she pulled the girl under the table to ensure she was trapped under it. When she noticed the girl crawling out, she ran back and pushed her back under it.
The girl tried her best to resist by pushing the table away from her, but the offender shoved the table back towards the wall, at one point causing the girl to suffer a blow.
With the girl trapped between the table and the wall, the woman continued trying to use the plastic divider to block her view of the classroom.
At one point, when the girl did not stop crying, the woman hit her face multiple times with the plastic divider. She also hit the girl's head with it.
DISCOVERY AND IMPACT ON CHILDREN
After the girl went home on Jun 27, 2022, her mother discovered some bruises on her face.
The mother used the school's online messaging system to ask her daughter's teachers what had happened and uploaded two photographs of the girl's face.
The next day, the offender replied that the girl "did not (have) any incident in school yesterday and she was fine just for as usual she cried a little asking for the both of you".
Despite the teacher's denial, the preschool's principal started an investigation when she became aware of the mother's query.
The matter was escalated to the preschool's headquarters, which made a police report against the offender a month later.
After the abuse, the girl started experiencing interrupted sleep. She would start crying and whining in her sleep in the middle of the night.
This would happen every night to two or three times a week.
The girl's bond with her father also suffered for a few months because the offender had told her that her father allowed the teacher to beat her.
The boy developed a tendency to hide under a table or go into a dark room and sit in a corner whenever he was disciplined at home.
"He would sit down with his arms wrapped around his knees while sulking and he would not tell his mother why he hid in dark rooms or under a table," DPP Tan said.
CLAIMS OVER PRESCHOOL'S PRACTICE TO PUNISH CHILDREN
The prosecution sought 20 to 24 months' jail, while defence lawyer Vinit Chhabra argued for eight to 10 months' jail if the judge deemed imprisonment to be warranted.
DPP Tan stressed the "exceptional vulnerability" of the victims given their small statures and tender ages, which meant that they were unable to verbalise what had happened to them.
She argued that the offender did "the exact opposite" of what she was supposed to do as a preschool teacher and highlighted the woman's abuse of her position.
This made the abuse hard to detect and the circumstances were conducive for it to continue and potentially escalate, DPP Tan added. She also said that it was fortuitous that the authorities intervened before that.
In mitigation, Mr Chhabra said he was instructed by his client that it was the practice in the preschool to punish children by keeping them under the table or in the storeroom.
His client also said that the authorities went to the preschool and warned other teachers against such practices after the abuse was discovered, which showed that there was "follow-up" on this, Mr Chhabra added.
DPP Tan argued that this claim was false and not backed by evidence. It also did not explain why the preschool's principal investigated the incident and later fired the offender after the abuse came to light.
Judge Tham rejected the defence's argument. He said it was "unbelievable" to hear that this was the preschool's usual practice of punishing children and that the offender as a teacher would know not to treat young children this way.
To the point Mr Chhabra raised that his client was under considerable stress at the time of her offences, Judge Tham said that he failed to see how stress at home would cause the woman to resort to abuse.
He also pointed to the recorded footage showing that she was able to treat other children in the class well.
He added that it was shocking to see how the girl was "systematically targeted for a prolonged period" by the offender, and "even more shocking" to see the contrast with the playful way in which she treated the other children.
The judge noted the emotional trauma that the offender had caused the victims, saying that the impact extended beyond the children to their parents and other young children in the class who witnessed her "acts of hostility".
The woman was granted a deferment of about one week to start serving her sentence, and remains out on a higher bail amount of S$20,000 (US$15,000).
The punishment for ill-treating a child is up to eight years in jail or a fine of up to S$8,000, or both.
Continue reading...