Woman jailed for breaching protection order and assaulting teenage son over 9 months

• A 40-year-old assaulted her 16-year-old son 10 times over nine months
• She locked him out of their flat, struck him with a bicycle lock and threatened him with a knife
• She also threw items such as a ceramic bowl, shampoo bottle and insecticide spray at him
• In 2019, she was jailed for similar offences against her oldest daughter 
• Her three children took out a personal protection order against her in 2017 

SINGAPORE — Despite having recently served jail time for being violent towards her oldest daughter, a woman went on to repeatedly assault her 16-year-old son by elbowing his face and throwing a ceramic bowl at him, among other things.

By doing so, she also breached the personal protection orders (PPOs) that her three children took up against her in 2017.

The 40-year-old Singaporean was jailed for 27 weeks on Thursday (Sept 30) for her actions.     

She pleaded guilty to three charges each of violating a PPO and voluntarily causing hurt to her son, as well as criminally intimidating him.

Fourteen other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

She cannot be named due to a court order to protect her child’s identity. Her sentence was backdated to Aug 2.

WHAT HAPPENED

The woman targeted her son from Nov 28 last year to July 30, with the police having to intervene 10 times before she was held on remand. They both lived in the same flat at the time.

Court documents showed that she grabbed the teenager’s hair and hit his cheek with her elbow on the first occasion. On Feb 14, she threw a can of insecticide spray at him.

That same month, she threw a bottle of shampoo at him on two occasions.

On Feb 28, she grew upset when he discarded a table fan she had given to him. 

She threw a ceramic bowl at him, which struck his chin and left him with a cut. He then called the police.

At the time, she was already under investigation for her previous offences.

Court documents showed that the abuse continued a few weeks later on March 17. 

She scolded her son for not putting his slippers back properly on a shoe rack. They began arguing before she threw a small tin containing cigarette butts at him.

She started to film him with her mobile phone as he walked to his room.

He struggled to snatch the phone away and scratched her in the process, before she called the police to say: “My 15-year-old son challenged me.”

The final incident took place on July 30.

The boy had returned home at about 10pm, only to discover that his mother had locked him out of the flat by securing a bicycle lock around the main gate.

He then switched off the unit’s main electricity supply to get her attention. When she unlocked the door, he tried to enter but she struck him with the bicycle lock, leaving a cut on his collarbone.

She then picked up a knife from the dining table and pointed it at him, saying in Mandarin: “This is your doing.” 

Afraid she would hurt him, he fled to his room and called the police.

She also called the police but they went to the flat and arrested her.

For breaching a PPO, the woman could have been jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$2,000, or both.

For voluntarily causing hurt, she could have been jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$5,000, or both. She could also have been jailed for up to two years or fined, or both, for criminal intimidation.