SINGAPORE: Members of a family who repeatedly tortured a 10-year-old relative over two years and left him permanently disfigured have been sentenced to jail.
The case has been described by a District Court judge as "one of the worst cases of causing grievous hurt".
The accused cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy.
The
court heard that the boy, who is not schooling, had been living with
the family in a rented unit in Ang Mo Kio since he was four years old
when his biological mother was serving jail term.
In 2010, his
grandaunt hit him on his mouth with a hammer, causing a tooth to fall
off and his mouth to bleed. This was after the grandaunt found out he
had finished some fried rice meant for the family.
A few months after the incident, the boy was again abused for stealing food and playing with the knobs of the gas stove.
His grandaunt asked her three daughters to restrain the boy while she splashed hot cooking oil on his face and body.
She also cut his fingers with a pair of scissors, and pressed a hot iron and ladle on him.
She tied his hands and taped his mouth with a cable tie and scotch tape, after she caught him stealing food again.
The boy now suffers from facial deformities, including a distorted lip margin and a flattened nasal bridge.
For their crimes, the boy's 44-year-old grandaunt received a five-year jail term.
Her
24-year-old daughter got 20 months' jail for abetment of voluntarily
causing hurt. She was given another two months' jail for four counts of
cheating her former employer, who runs a cleaning services company, of
more than S$2,200.
Another daughter, who is 20 years old, was also sentenced to 20 months in prison.
The youngest daughter, who is 14 years old, was sentenced earlier this year to probation.
The woman's ex-husband will be sentenced early next year.
The boy is said to have a habit of asking food every five minutes and helping himself to whatever food that was available.
Defence
lawyer M S Rajendran said that this aggravated the family's financial
struggles as they had "very little to eat and spend".
He told the
court that the grandaunt, who used to work as a cleaner, was "not a
heartless person" and "merely wanted to frighten" the boy.
The court heard that the woman and her daughters would comfort the boy and apply medication on his wounds after the punishment.
The woman, who remained stoic while her charges were read out, later broke down when the court was hearing her mitigation plea.
She continued tearing when Assistant Public Prosecutor Ashraff Hassan read out the charges against her daughters.
Her 24-year-old daughter, who started a company with her fiancee last year, looked down while her sentence was read out.
- CNA/wk
This family worse than beasts and animals.
Pity the boy.
better let them suffer in prison ...
Whai no execution?
how could any lawyer defend such people? ' "not a heartless person", "merely wanted to frighten" the boy. ' What kind of retard excuse is this?
They only got 5 years, where the boy is scarred for life. Not to even mention the psychological tramua inflicted.
They need to be shot.
hungry every 5mins? can bring the boy to the doc. even if someone was hungry for every 5mins, when its was a little boy, everyone knows they are covering up their crime. i think they are sadist.
pity the boy.i demand the family compensate the boy 1million once he turned 18.
Originally posted by airgrinder:how could any lawyer defend such people? ' "not a heartless person", "merely wanted to frighten" the boy. ' What kind of retard excuse is this?
They only got 5 years, where the boy is scarred for life. Not to even mention the psychological tramua inflicted.
Boh bian, he's paid top dollar to say this kinda thing.
Criminal litigators are paid to defend, not judge.
I say execute the family. All of them. We execute enough people for other things, so whai not?
Originally posted by QX179R:SINGAPORE: Members of a family who repeatedly tortured a 10-year-old relative over two years and left him permanently disfigured have been sentenced to jail.
The case has been described by a District Court judge as "one of the worst cases of causing grievous hurt".
The accused cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy.
The court heard that the boy, who is not schooling, had been living with the family in a rented unit in Ang Mo Kio since he was four years old when his biological mother was serving jail term.
In 2010, his grandaunt hit him on his mouth with a hammer, causing a tooth to fall off and his mouth to bleed. This was after the grandaunt found out he had finished some fried rice meant for the family.
A few months after the incident, the boy was again abused for stealing food and playing with the knobs of the gas stove.
His grandaunt asked her three daughters to restrain the boy while she splashed hot cooking oil on his face and body.
She also cut his fingers with a pair of scissors, and pressed a hot iron and ladle on him.
She tied his hands and taped his mouth with a cable tie and scotch tape, after she caught him stealing food again.
The boy now suffers from facial deformities, including a distorted lip margin and a flattened nasal bridge.
For their crimes, the boy's 44-year-old grandaunt received a five-year jail term.
Her 24-year-old daughter got 20 months' jail for abetment of voluntarily causing hurt. She was given another two months' jail for four counts of cheating her former employer, who runs a cleaning services company, of more than S$2,200.
Another daughter, who is 20 years old, was also sentenced to 20 months in prison.
The youngest daughter, who is 14 years old, was sentenced earlier this year to probation.
The woman's ex-husband will be sentenced early next year.
The boy is said to have a habit of asking food every five minutes and helping himself to whatever food that was available.
Defence lawyer M S Rajendran said that this aggravated the family's financial struggles as they had "very little to eat and spend".
He told the court that the grandaunt, who used to work as a cleaner, was "not a heartless person" and "merely wanted to frighten" the boy.
The court heard that the woman and her daughters would comfort the boy and apply medication on his wounds after the punishment.
The woman, who remained stoic while her charges were read out, later broke down when the court was hearing her mitigation plea.
She continued tearing when Assistant Public Prosecutor Ashraff Hassan read out the charges against her daughters.
Her 24-year-old daughter, who started a company with her fiancee last year, looked down while her sentence was read out.
- CNA/wk
makes my blood boil after reading what they did....even if they had 'very little to eat and
spend' people with a heart wouldn't do such things to the boy...
if they didnt want to take care of him, they should have rejected babysitting for their relative, just send him to an orphan's home.
I bet they received quite a fair bit of money from the govt to take care of the boy, then found out that it is not worth the effort taking a small amount to take care of a young boy.
cut his fingers with scissors = scare him?
Wtf.. then maybe they should let the boy cut the grandaunt's fingers to scare her not to do it again.
Just execute the grandaunt, then settle dy.
if they can cut the boy finge to scare him...?? maybe they will put fire on another MP to scare that MP also ...........
My heart go out for the boy. Hope they can help find a good home for him and there will be a collected effort by the government and public to run donation drive to restore the boy's facial deformities perhaps thru plastic surgery.
Originally posted by Bus&Soccer l0v3r (VO3x 1):better let them suffer in prison ...
Luckily they are women,no caning for them,so no suffering.
this time round i strongly sugget caning for the grand aunt.......even one stroke is enough
She, being an adult led her own children to commit such acts has made it justifiable for caning
anyway, read it newspaper HDB has re-possessed the flat from them...serves them right