SINGAPORE - A woman who is five months pregnant is accused of ill-treating two toddlers – a girl and a boy – under her care at a pre-school in June 2022.
At the time of the alleged offences, the boy was just over two years old, while the girl was 20 months old.
The Singaporean woman, 28, now faces six charges under the Children and Young Persons Act.
Another woman, a 28-year-old Chinese national, was handed one charge under the Act after she allegedly failed to take steps to protect the girl from the Singaporean’s purported acts of abuse.
Her case, which was mentioned in a district court on Thursday, has been adjourned to September.
The two women’s roles at the pre-school were not disclosed in court documents. Details about them and the pre-school also cannot be revealed, due to a gag order to protect the children’s identities.
The court heard that at around 10am on June 22, 2022, the Singaporean woman allegedly pulled a table over the two-year-old boy, trapping him under it for around 15 minutes.
At about 10.20am, she allegedly placed the boy in a dark storeroom for about seven minutes. The woman is also said to have thrown four foam blocks into the room while the child was trapped inside.
Five days later, at around 10.20am, she allegedly pulled a chair that the boy was sitting on, causing him to fall to the ground.
She is then said to have placed him on a chair and pushed him against a table. She is also accused of slapping and forcefully pinching the boy’s face shortly before 11am that day.
The woman is accused of ill-treating the girl on June 22, 2022, with acts such as poking, pinching and slapping her face.
She also allegedly pulled the child up onto her feet and then pushed her to the ground multiple times.
The woman is also accused of hitting the girl’s face with a foam block and using tissue paper to forcefully rub the child’s face.
On June 27 that year, five days later, the woman allegedly shoved a table into the girl. She is also said to have hit the girl’s face with a plastic divider multiple times.
The woman had allegedly done so while the child was trapped behind the table. The girl is also said to have been trapped under the table for more than 30 minutes.
The case has been adjourned to next Thursday.
