SINGAPORE – A man who was unhappy with his estranged wife for not walking their son home lashed out at the 12-year-old boy and used an empty cooking pot to hit him.
After that, the offender picked up a metal baseball bat and threatened to kill the boy with it.
On April 11, the 48-year-old man was sentenced to two months and six weeks’ jail.
He had pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, harassment and criminal intimidation.
At the time of the offences, the man was living in a Housing Board flat and his son stayed with him on weekdays as his school was nearby.
His wife lived elsewhere, and their son stayed with her on weekends.
The boy and his mother were out together on April 9, 2023, during the Ramadan fasting month, when he received a text message from his father saying that he wanted to break their fast together later that evening.
The boy arrived alone at his father’s flat at around 7pm, and the latter became upset when he realised that his wife had not walked their son home.
He flipped a dining table in anger and hurled vulgarities at his son. He then told the son to clean up the mess, and the boy obliged.
The man then retrieved an empty cooking pot from the kitchen and swung it at his son. The pot struck the victim, who was later found with bruises on his left forearm, upper back and chest.
Still unhappy, the offender picked up a baseball bat, pointed it at his son and said: “I will kill you using this.”
The boy tried to repeatedly contact his mother that evening, but she ignored the calls, as she thought that it was her husband trying to speak to her by using their son’s phone.
The victim then sent a text message to his older brother to tell his sibling about his ordeal.
The brother alerted the police at around 11.30pm, but the offender refused to open the front gate when officers arrived at the flat.
The prosecutor said that the officers then forced their way into the unit to arrest the man.
The boy was taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital at around 6am on April 10 and was discharged later that day. He was given three days of medical leave.
