SINGAPORE — Angry that his nine-year-old son made several mistakes in his homework, a 35-year-old father used a hanger to beat him, threw the hanger at him, and kicked him.

During the beating, he also shouted at his son: "You know why you don't know (the answers)? You are stupid!"

The Singaporean father, who cannot be named to protect the child's identity, admitted on Thursday (June 14) to a charge of ill-treating his son.

The incident, which was shown in court in a recording, started at around 10.40pm on Aug 4 last year, and it lasted for about seven minutes.

It was captured on a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera that was mounted on a ledge in the family's dining room. It is not known who placed the camera there.

Court documents stated that the man's wife — a 34-year-old Singaporean who is undergoing divorce proceedings with him — is the complainant in the case.

That night, as the beating was going on, a next-door neighbour called the police to say that he heard a child crying and the father thrashing the boy.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Chua said that the child's mother had gone out to meet her friends for dinner at about 9pm. When the boy had some difficulties doing his homework later, he asked his father, who was watching the television, for help.

The father told him to think of the answers on his own, but he flared up upon hearing the boy give several wrong answers, and went into the bedroom to get a plastic hanger.

Ignoring the pleas for leniency, he grabbed the son's hand and forcefully yanked him from the chair, causing him to fall. He then grabbed the boy's leg and held him up in the air as he hit him with the hanger several times on his buttocks and legs.

The footage showed the father raising the hanger up high before swinging it down with his full strength to hit his son each time.

He stopped after 30 seconds, but continued shouting at his son, who looked to be in a daze, telling his father that he "really (did not) know" the answers to the questions.

Hearing that, the father gave the boy two forceful kicks, called him "stupid" and flung the hanger at him twice before kicking him one more time.

He then chased the boy into the bedroom, where he continued to hit his son's buttocks with his hands.

Later, when the boy's mother got home at about 1.15am, she learnt about the thrashing from her son and reviewed the CCTV footage.

She admitted him to the KK Women's and Children's Hospital that night for the multiple bruises he suffered, which included a big reddish-blue bruise on his buttocks measuring 12cm by 10cm and hook-shaped bruises measuring 3cm and 6cm on his back.

The boy was discharged from the hospital three days later.

The father, who is out on an S$8,000 bail, will return to court on July 12, likely for sentencing.

For ill-treating his son, the father may be fined up to S$4,000 or jailed up to four years, or both.

In lieu of or in addition to the punishment, the court may also order him to execute a bond, with or without sureties, as it sees fit. The bond may include a condition requiring him to undergo counselling, psychotherapy or any other programme as may be specified.