Man who punished son by chaining him to toilet fixture for hours gets 2 years' jail

SINGAPORE: A father who chained his son to a toilet fixture for hours at a time, leaving the 11-year-old alone with some food and water, was sentenced to two years' jail on Friday (Jun 14)

The 53-year-old pleaded guilty in the State Courts to three charges under the Children and Young Persons Act for ill-treating his son, who is now 13. One count of criminal intimidation was taken into consideration for his sentencing. 

The man, a Grab driver, cannot be named to protect his son's identity. 

The court heard that the man had gained custody of his son after divorcing his wife. He lived with his son. 

On Nov 30, 2022, when father and son were at home, the accused found out that his son had been texting his mother, even though he had previously been told to cut off contact with her.

Angered, the father slapped the left side of the victim's face, leaving him with a perforation in his left eardrum. 

The man then spotted a yellow rubber hose and used it to hit his son on his upper arm, back and left thigh, leaving bruises.

The victim was later brought to KK Women's and Children's Hospital, where he and his mother reported the injuries. The man admitted to causing the injuries and revealed that he had hit his son on previous occasions. 

A medical report from the hospital following this visit described injuries – including the slit in the boy's eardrum – that were consistent with his and his mother's accounts. 

Investigations later revealed that the man had used a metal chain to restrain his son on three occasions in 2022, to punish his son for lying, not doing his homework or not keeping his promise with regard to not contacting his mother.  

The man would wind the metal chain twice around either his son's ankle or wrist and secure it to a metal bar next to the basin in the toilet with a padlock.

He would then place a rubber hose between the chain and the child's wrist or ankle so that his son would not feel pain even if he struggled. 

He would also place 1 litre of water and food on a shelf for his son before leaving the boy alone for two to five hours. In the meantime, the man would go to sleep or leave the unit.

A National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline staff member called the police to report the case on Dec 4, 2022.

Submitting for a sentence of 28 to 31 months' jail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jocelyn Teo pointed out that the maximum prescribed punishments for ill-treatment had been doubled on Jan 1, 2020. 

Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam had said that the enhanced penalties were to provide stronger protection for those who could not protect themselves, Ms Teo said.

The victim had been vulnerable and his father in a position of trust, she added.

The accused's act of chaining his child to the bar had left him "in a very dangerous situation". 

"If there had been an emergency, such as a fire, the child would not have been able to escape," Ms Teo said. 

The man's lawyer, Mr Mansur Husain, sought 12 to 15 months' jail for his client, adding that his client acknowledges his wrongdoing. 

The lawyer called the prosecution's proposed sentence "excessive", adding that his client's sentence should not be doubled just because the maximum penalties had been doubled.

"Every case should be decided on facts. What parliament has done is give the court more flexibility. (This is not) to say that everything else should be doubled," said Mr Mansur. 

District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt took Mr Mansur's point that punishments should be based on the facts of the case. 

However, he said that the punishment inflicted on the victim had been "harmful and cruel and completely unnecessary".

He noted that the defence had conceded that the accused had crossed the line between discipline and criminal acts against his son. 

For ill-treating a child, the man could have been jailed for up to eight years, fined up to S$8,000 (US$5,920), or both.