by Elena Chong
A MAN who caned two brothers under his care was sentenced to six
months' jail on Thursday for ill-treatment. But the 45-year-old
electronic scientist is appealing against the sentence. Bail of
$15,000 was offered.
He was wheeled to court in a stretcher with a tube attached to
his nose. The man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of
the victims, recently suffered a heart attack and was
hospitalised.
The bespectacled man had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges
of ill-treating the nine-year-old boy and his 11-year-old brother
at his house on April 3, 2009. Two other charges of ordering the
older boy to slap the younger one a total of 90 times the previous
day were considered during his sentencing.
A Community Court heard that sometime in December 2008, the
victims' parents arranged for the victims to stay with the accused
to manage their discipline. The accused then designed a strict
daily schedule for the victims which included bathing at 4.30am to
5.30am, going to bed at 11pm and recording their movements in a
diary every 20 minutes.
On April 3 at about 4.30am, the victims were found dozing off
while studying and the accused punished them by caning the younger
boy 30 times. He also caned the older boy 20 times.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports was
informed by the school of the incident. In his oral judgment,
Community Court Judge Ng Peng Hong accepted the prosecution's
submission that a custodial sentence was warranted. He said the
case involved a strong element of public interest given that the
two victims were young and vulnerable; the harm caused by the
series of caning, resulting in multiple physical injuries to the
victims.