SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old single mother admitted in court on Monday (Jun 24) to splashing hot water on her four children as she suspected one of them had stolen her money.
The Singaporean woman pleaded guilty to one count of ill-treating a child in her care, with another three charges relating to her other children to be considered in sentencing.
She cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identities of her children.
The court heard that the woman’s children were aged eight, nine, 10 and 11 at the time of the offences in July 2022.
On the morning of Jul 2, 2022, she asked her oldest child, an 11-year-old girl, to retrieve S$20 (US$14.70) from her wallet to buy bread for breakfast.
The girl told her mother that there was only S$5 in the wallet.
The woman was surprised, as she recalled having S$60 in her wallet the night before.
She suspected that one of her children had taken the money, like they had previously, and instructed them to look for the cash.
THE SPLASHING
The woman watched and threatened to splash hot water on them if they could not find the money.
As the kids were looking for the cash, the woman boiled water in the kitchen. She filled three-quarters of a tumbler with the hot liquid and went to the bedroom, where her children were.
She splashed the hot water in their direction and asked them to return the money.
The children continued to deny taking the money and their mother refilled the tumbler with hot water and splashed it at them again.
She repeated this until she had splashed each child once. The children cried and ran around the bedroom apologising as they were scalded by the liquid.
When the children stopped the search to prepare for school, the woman noticed that her nine-year-old son had burns on his body.
She checked on her other children and realised they had similar injuries.
She began to cry and applied medicated oil on them before calling her sister to come over.
An ambulance was subsequently called by Singapore Civil Defence Force personnel.
Court documents detailed the injuries on only one of the children – the 10-year-old girl who was the second oldest child.
This girl sustained superficial partial thickness burns over 10 per cent of her body, including her left arm, stomach area and thighs.
She underwent treatment and wound dressing that required general anaesthesia and had to go for serial wound inspections and dressing changes.
The girl was last reviewed in October 2022 by the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery.
There was a soft scar of about 2cm by 1cm on her left arm, with permanent scarring likely.
PROBATION REPORT TO BE CALLED
The prosecution did not object to the calling of a probation suitability report, as asked for by the defence.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tin Shu Min noted that while the victims were vulnerable and the offences severe, the accused has also taken efforts since to change her situation.
Any sentence will also have an impact on her family unit, said Ms Tin.
The offender’s lawyer, from the Public Defender’s Office, said his client had single-handedly raised the four children after overcoming a poor family background, an abusive ex-husband and persistent depressive disorder.
“She has overcome all of that to provide for her children, notwithstanding that she was a waitress with only PSLE education,” said the lawyer.
He said the woman worked hard and sought help from social agencies to upskill herself and care for her children.
While juggling her finances and legal battles with her ex-husband, the woman still “found time to love and care” for her children, said the lawyer.
He added that this was the first time such a thing had happened and that the woman has since suffered intense guilt and a low mood and has been diagnosed with major depressive disorder.
The lawyer said the children love their mother and wish to be reunited with her, and that the relevant social agencies are also working towards reunification.
He said the current charges resulted in the children being separated from their mother and being placed in three separate homes.
The Child Protective Service has indicated that it would “move towards reintegration” if the woman is sentenced to probation, said the lawyer, pushing for probation as it is in the children’s best interests.
District Judge Tan Jen Tse called for a report to assess the woman’s suitability for probation.
However, he stressed that even if it was recommended, he was not bound to follow the recommendations in sentencing.
And even if the prosecution and defence agreed that probation is the right sentence, he may not agree with them, he told the woman.
She nodded.
“I suggest you continue your efforts to keep trying to improve and look after your children properly,” said the judge.
Sentencing was adjourned to August.