SINGAPORE — Unhappy that his then seven-year-old son kept fidgeting while being punished over his schoolwork, a 54-year-old man used an aluminium clothes hanger to hit the boy about 20 times all across his body, including his face.

According to a medical report, the man's assault left the child with bruises on his cheek, chest and shoulder, as well as marks.

On Tuesday (Feb 27), the man pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse. A similar charge will be taken into consideration, over the man hitting another son, then aged two, a day earlier.

The man and his children cannot be named due to a gag order.

The man is due back in court on April 1. It is not clear when the man is set to to be sentenced.

WHAT HAPPENED

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Stacy Anne Fernandez told the court that on April 21, 2020 at about 8pm, the man was in his bedroom on the second floor of their home when he heard his elder son making noise in the living room on the first floor.

The man found his son in the living room carrying the rubbish bin and running from the kitchen to the balcony of the unit, spilling some of the rubbish on the floor.

Angry at the boy's actions, the man told him to go to the bedroom and squat there.

The boy was instructed to hold a tin of canned food in each hand and to hold his hands up next to his head.

"The victim told the accused that he did not love him, to which the accused explained to the victim that he had given him rewards by giving him ice cream the past few days when he behaved well," said DPP Fernandez.

The man then confronted the boy about how he had not been doing  his schoolwork properly. When the boy refused to answer why, the man slapped him in the face.

The man grew angrier as the boy played with the tins of canned food in his hands and slapped the child again.

As the boy continued playing with the tins of canned food, the man scolded the child for "not being able to behave properly even for five minutes" before using a silver aluminium hanger to hit the boy.

The boy cried because he was being hit, but stopped crying a while after, said DPP Fernandez, who did not elaborate why.

The man then instructed the boy to not behave badly again and to go to the home's first floor, which the boy did.

It is unclear who informed Child Protective Service of the matter, but the boy's mother was advised to take her two sons to KK Women's and Children's Hospital on April 23, 2020. A police report was made to the hospital on the same day.

Investigations uncovered that on April 20, 2020 at about 9am, the man also hit his youngest son, who was two years old at the time.

He was trying to console the child who was crying and had told the child to stop. However, the child continued to cry and this angered the man.

In turn, the man slapped the child repeatedly on his face. The man's wife saw the man doing so and recorded the incident on her phone.

The child was left with bruises and scratches on his face.

Both children were referred to a medical social worker and discharged to their parents on April 28, 2020 with a safety plan, said DPP Fernandez.

For ill-treating a child under his custody, the man could be jailed for up to four years, fined up to S$4,000 or both.