Teenager pleads guilty to telling friend to pour boiling water on special needs teen during 9-day abuse
SINGAPORE — A 16-year-old girl turned on a kettle, then directed her friend to pour boiling water on a 19-year-old man with special needs, causing first- and second-degree burns. The assault was part of repeated physical abuse of the victim spanning nine days that was inflicted by a group of four in a hotel room.
The girl, now aged 18, pleaded guilty on Monday (June 12) to a charge of forming a common intent to cause hurt with the use of boiling water, and one unrelated charge of consuming the drug methamphetamine, also known as "ice".
She will be sentenced on July 19.
Muhammad Shahfakhry Mohamad Faizal, the man who poured the boiling water on the victim, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years' jail in February. The 22-year-old assaulted the victim multiple times.
Two other members of the group — Putri Nuramira Aishah Rosli, 20, and a girl aged 17 — were both sentenced last year to one year of reformative training.
Under the Children and Young Persons Act, the names of individuals who commit their offences when they were aged under 18 cannot be published.
WHAT HAPPENED
The court heard that before being assaulted by the group, the victim — who has a low intelligence quotient (IQ) — was friends with two members of the group and did not know the other two.
On Jan 15 last year, the offenders were staying at the Arton Boutique Hotel in the Jalan Besar area where three of them were consuming illicit drugs, though not the teenager who pleaded guilty on Monday.
That day, the victim asked the other teenage girl where she was, and he then met her and the others at the hotel. Two days later on Jan 17, the victim started staying at the hotel with them.
From Jan 17 to 25 last year, the victim was subjected to various types of physical abuse by the group.
On Jan 17, for example, both Shahfakhry and the other young woman who cannot be named attacked the victim by slapping, punching and kicking him, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Selene Yap said.
The offender who pleaded guilty on Monday had filmed one of those assaults.
On the evening of Jan 19, the then 16-year-old girl set a kettle to boil and gestured to Shahfakhry to pour the boiling water on the victim, which he did on the victim's back.
By Jan 25, after observing that the victim was in a "bad state", Shahfakhry, Putri and the other girl stopped hitting him and bought medication and bandages to tend to his wounds, DPP Yap said.
The physical assaults of the victim came to light when the victim's sister saw a post on social media with a photo that showed a badly injured person who looked like her brother.
She made a police report on Jan 25, stating that her brother had left home on Jan 14 and had not returned.
Police investigations eventually traced the victim to the hotel where he was found on Jan 26. He taken to Singapore General Hospital with critical injuries.
Three members of the group were arrested on the same day while the 18-year-old who pleaded guilty on Monday was arrested the next day.
A medical report found that the victim had sustained numerous injuries, including chemical burns to his scalp, face and back. He also had cigarette butt burns, slash wounds and amnesia from a possible traumatic brain injury.
He had to be given alternative nutritional support because he was unable to take food orally due to limitations in opening his mouth and an acute stress reaction.
The 18-year-old will return to court on July 19 for sentencing after the judge receives reports on her suitability for probation and reformative training.
For forming a common intent to cause hurt with the use of a heated substance, the offender could be jailed for up to seven years, fined or caned, or be given any combination of these punishments.
