SINGAPORE: A probation report has been called on
Thursday for a 14-year-old girl who held her 10-year-old male
relative while her mother splashed hot oil on
him.
The girl, her parents and two sisters aged 20 and
24, were arrested in June this year.
Channel NewsAsia understands the 46-year-old mother,
who works as a cleaner, is the grand-aunt of the boy.
The court heard the boy -- who started living with the family at
age four when his biological mother went to prison -- had been
abused since 2009.
Early this year, the girl and her sisters complained to their
mother that the boy had eaten all the food in the house, and was
playing with the gas stove.
Their mother then instructed the three of them to hold the boy's
arms and legs down while she heated cooking oil in a frying
pan.
The woman then took off his shirt and used a ladle to splash hot
oil from the frying pan onto his face and bare body.
She then told her daughters to turn him around, where she repeated
the act on his bare back.
A medical report by Dr Sharon Wong of KK Women's and Children's
Hospital revealed the boy suffered facial deformities, including
multiple first-degree burns and several scars over his head and
face.
The boy is currently in a welfare home.
Two other charges against the girl - of voluntarily causing hurt -
were also taken into consideration.
On two separate occasions, she had aided her mother by holding the
boy down while her mother snipped his fingers with a pair of
scissors, and pressed a hot ladle against his back.
In mitigation, her lawyer, Mr M S Rajendran, said she was "not
thinking rationally when she was confronted with obedience towards
her mother".
The court also heard the girl knew the boy was in pain and "felt
sorry for him but could not bring herself to defy her
mother".
Her lawyer added the girl is currently in a girls' home and is
remorseful.
Her uncle and aunt have offered to take custody of her and have
signed a bond ensuring her good behaviour.
Both her parents and sisters will have their cases mentioned in
court on 23 December.
- CNA/wk