SINGAPORE: Members of a family who repeatedly
tortured a 10-year-old relative over two years and left him
permanently disfigured have been sentenced to
jail.
The case has been described by a District Court
judge as "one of the worst cases of causing grievous
hurt".
The accused cannot be named to protect the identity
of the boy.
The court heard that the boy, who is not schooling, had been living
with the family in a rented unit in Ang Mo Kio since he was four
years old when his biological mother was serving jail term.
In 2010, his grandaunt hit him on his mouth with a hammer, causing
a tooth to fall off and his mouth to bleed. This was after the
grandaunt found out he had finished some fried rice meant for the
family.
A few months after the incident, the boy was again abused for
stealing food and playing with the knobs of the gas stove.
His grandaunt asked her three daughters to restrain the boy while
she splashed hot cooking oil on his face and body.
She also cut his fingers with a pair of scissors, and pressed a hot
iron and ladle on him.
She tied his hands and taped his mouth with a cable tie and scotch
tape, after she caught him stealing food again.
The boy now suffers from facial deformities, including a distorted
lip margin and a flattened nasal bridge.
For their crimes, the boy's 44-year-old grandaunt received a
five-year jail term.
Her 24-year-old daughter got 20 months' jail for abetment of
voluntarily causing hurt. She was given another two months' jail
for four counts of cheating her former employer, who runs a
cleaning services company, of more than S$2,200.
Another daughter, who is 20 years old, was also sentenced to 20
months in prison.
The youngest daughter, who is 14 years old, was sentenced earlier
this year to probation.
The woman's ex-husband will be sentenced early next year.
The boy is said to have a habit of asking food every five minutes
and helping himself to whatever food that was available.
Defence lawyer M S Rajendran said that this aggravated the family's
financial struggles as they had "very little to eat and
spend".
He told the court that the grandaunt, who used to work as a
cleaner, was "not a heartless person" and "merely wanted to
frighten" the boy.
The court heard that the woman and her daughters would comfort the
boy and apply medication on his wounds after the punishment.
The woman, who remained stoic while her charges were read out,
later broke down when the court was hearing her mitigation
plea.
She continued tearing when Assistant Public Prosecutor Ashraff
Hassan read out the charges against her daughters.
Her 24-year-old daughter, who started a company with her fiancee
last year, looked down while her sentence was read out.
- CNA/wk
makes my blood boil after reading what they did....even if they
had 'very little to eat and spend' people with a
heart wouldn't do such things to the boy...