Man attacks daughter, 5, when she cannot locate his phone
A man flew into a rage when his five-year-old daughter could not locate his mobile phone and physically attacked the girl after she finally found the device.
He slapped his daughter multiple times, pulled her hair, grabbed and dragged her, before flinging her onto a sofa.
He also hurled vulgarities at his wife and threatened to throw their two-year-old son down from their flat. Details about the flat have been redacted from court documents.
The 26-year-old man, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identities of his children, pleaded guilty to one charge of ill-treating his daughter and was sentenced to a year in jail on Oct 1. One count of criminal intimidation was considered during sentencing.
The court heard that the offender was at home with his wife and their two children at around 9.40am on April 22 when he asked his daughter to look for his mobile phone.
He became unhappy when the girl could not locate it. His anger did not abate even after the child finally found the device and handed it to him in his bedroom.
Still upset, he pulled the victim’s hair and used his hand to slap her face.
When his wife, who was carrying their son, entered the bedroom to find out what was happening, the man yelled vulgarities at the woman and threatened to throw the little boy down from their flat.
The two children and their mother then left the bedroom for the living room. The man followed the trio and continued yelling.
Frightened, the little girl screamed and tried to hide behind her mother.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun told the court: “The accused grabbed (his daughter) by her right arm, dragged her violently, yanked her up so her legs left the ground, slapped her face and flung her onto a sofa.
“When the victim managed to sit upright, the accused continued yelling at her, causing her to cower. He then slapped her again, causing her to fall to her side and cover her face in pain.”
Court documents did not disclose what happened after that, but the man’s wife later left for her own father’s home with her two children.
The police were alerted at around 11pm and the girl was taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She was found with injuries, including bruises to her face and left arm.
The DPP said: “In her victim impact statement, the victim reported that she felt pain when her father beat her.” Asked to rate the pain she felt on a scale of one to 10, the girl gave a 10, which was the most painful.
“She also reported feeling very scared on the day of the incident,” added the DPP.
The offender was arrested soon after.
On Oct 1, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence him to between 10 months and a year in jail, adding: “The attack was completely unwarranted and grossly disproportionate to any purported wrongdoing.”
The inaugural Domestic Violence Trends report released by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) on Sept 26 revealed that the number of new Tier 1 child abuse cases – defined as those with low to moderate safety and risk concerns – rose 17 per cent from 2,377 cases in 2021 to 2,787 cases in 2023.
Meanwhile, the number of new Tier 2 child abuse cases fell slightly, from 2,141 cases in 2021 to 2,011 cases in 2023.
Tier 2 cases are high-risk cases that may warrant removing the child from the family to keep the child safe, and are managed by the MSF’s Child Protective Service, while Tier 1 cases are managed by community agencies.
In Tier 2 cases, children may have severe injuries such as burns or fractures inflicted on them by their parents.
An MSF spokeswoman said that the ministry has beefed up its child protection protocols and strengthened coordination between government and community agencies to check on vulnerable children regularly.
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