3 weeks’ jail for man who kicked 6-year-old boy, who caused his daughter to fall at mall playground

SINGAPORE: A 39-year-old man who was arrested last December after he slapped a six-year-old boy who had gotten into a fight with his daughter at a play area at Westgate shopping mall at Jurong East was given a three-week jail sentence on Thursday (Oct 9).

The boy had kicked a wall made of styrofoam blocks that the three-year-old girl was standing behind. This caused her to fall. Angered, the man approached the boy and slapped him on his right cheek, which caused bruising. Over two dozen other adults and children present at the time witnessed the man slapping the boy.

The man was sentenced after entering a guilty plea to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt. The Deputy Public Prosecutor on the case, Joelle Loy, had previously asked for a sentence of six to seven weeks of jail time. The man’s lawyer, meanwhile, asked for a fine instead, calling the man’s actions a “deeply regrettable… split-second reaction of a father,” news reports say.

District Judge Janet Wang, however, while noting that the man had gotten upset by what the boy had done to his daughter, found that his action had been out of proportion and that in no circumstance should violence against a child be condoned. No matter how precious a child is to their parents, there could have been empathy and forgiveness shown in the matter, which is the essence of true charity, she said.

The slapping incident

The incident occurred shortly past 2:30 p.m. on December 22, 2024. The boy had been brought to the mall playground by his mother and one of her friends. However, the boy’s mother did not see the man slapping her son, as she had been talking with her friend at the time.

After slapping him, the man asked the boy where his parents were, and the boy brought him to his mother. The man then told her what the boy had done, which led the boy’s mother to apologise to him. She also made her son apologise to the man, who reprimanded her for not keeping a closer watch on the boy.

The man then left the play area.

Shortly afterwards, the mum saw that her son was crying and had a red mark on his cheek. A bystander who had seen what happened told the mum’s friend that the girl’s father had slapped the boy, who, in turn, told the boy’s mum.

After this, she called the police, who confirmed to the media that a 38-year-old man had been arrested for voluntarily causing hurt.

The boy’s father was quoted as saying that after the incident, the young boy suffered from nightmares. /TISG

Read also: Arrested: Man who slapped 6-year-old boy at Westgate playground