Man who beat, threw toddler pleads guilty to ill-treatment charges

SINGAPORE — Over a period of five months, he abused his girlfriend’s one-year-old toddler until the latter was sent to a hospital where he is currently undergoing rehabilitative therapies.

On Friday (Sept 2), Franklie Tan Guang Wei, 25, pleaded guilty to three ill-treatment charges under the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA) and to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt. Another ill-treatment charge will be taken into consideration when sentencing. He will be sentenced at a later date.

The boy’s mother, who is also 25, faces two charges under the CYPA. Her trial has been fixed later this month. Both mother and son cannot be named due to a gag order.

A district court heard that the boy and his mother lived with her friend.

After she got into a relationship with Tan in August 2014, she would bring the boy to Tan’s flat occasionally. Subsequently, the boy’s caregivers started noticing bruises on the boy, who also became fearful of males and had nightmares.

When they asked the mother, she claimed that there were “spirits” in the flat abusing him.

In November that year, the boy’s mother found out that she was pregnant and moved in to stay with Tan and his mother. The boy was still being looked after by his caregivers.

On Nov 7, the boy started crying while he was sleeping on the bed with the couple.

Tan grew increasingly frustrated at his cries and slapped him, bruising his face near his left ear.

When his caregiver asked about the bruising, the boy’s mother lied that he had fallen off the bed.

Later, the caregiver filed a police report but there were no injuries found on the boy when he was taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH). But the case was referred to the Child Protection Service (CPS) of the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

After the boy was discharged, he returned to the care of his caregiver. The couple was restricted to having weekly supervised access to the boy at the MSF. At that time, the boy’s mother said she allowed the caregivers to adopt her son but later changed her mind.

In January last year, the boy was later found to have scratches on his thighs after his mother and Tan saw him at MSF. They were suspended from all contact with the boy.

The following month, however, the boy’s mother was allowed supervised access to him again, after arrangements were made with CPS officers.

The boy was placed in the care of Tan’s grandparents and his mother entered into a Voluntary Care Agreement (VCA), which meant any contact she had with the boy would have to be supervised by Tan’s grandparents.

On March 8, Tan’s grandfather took the boy to the mother’s flat and left him in the care of the couple, in breach of the VCA.

That night, when the boy started crying, Tan grew frustrated and threw the boy at the mother from a distance of about 2m.

The boy fell against her torso and landed on her lap.

On March 16, the VCA was amended and Tan was barred from unsupervised contact with the boy. But about a week later, he abused the boy again when the toddler cried, by using his right fist to pound the boy twice on his buttocks.

Later that day, the boy started vomiting after having some biscuits and milk. When Tan was cleaning up the mess, the boy vomited again. Tan got frustrated and forcefully pushed the boy off the bed, rendering him semi-conscious.

When his vomiting did not stop, Tan told his girlfriend and they sent the boy to KKH. There, they found a large swelling in the boy’s brain and he underwent surgery.

His condition stabilised later in the intensive care unit.

Although there were no outstanding neurosurgical issues, the boy requires neurosurgical follow-up for one to two years. He is now in foster care and undergoing therapies, such as for his speech. The case will be heard again on Sept 19.