A 31-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced on August 21 to nine years and 10 months in jail and eight strokes of the cane for abusing several primary school boys at a private educational facility in Singapore [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

The victims were boys between 6 and 11 years old. The youngest victim, a six-year-old boy, endured the most severe abuse after moving into the facility in January 2023 [1, 2].

The man forced this boy to drink his own urine, hold a push-up position for over 18 hours, and sleep in the toilet. He also physically abused him by hitting him over 600 times with a clothes hanger and stomping on him at least 40 to 45 times [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

The boy suffered broken ribs, kidney failure, and lung injuries and was hospitalized for 46 days, including nine days of dialysis. Despite the boy’s critical condition, the man deliberately withheld medical treatment for three days out of fear police would be alerted [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Deputy public prosecutors Timotheus Koh and Cheronne Lim said, "The accused cruelly deprived him of food, mocked him, made him drink his own urine, hit him hundreds of times with a hanger, stomped on him, kicked him in the ribs, forced him to hold a stress position for more than 18 hours, and after all this, intentionally deprived him of medical attention for three days because he feared that the police would be alerted to the abuse." [1]

The man pleaded guilty on July 9, 2026, to charges including child abuse, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and providing false or misleading information to the Ministry of Manpower about hiring a foreign domestic worker [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

He was employed since 2016 as a manager responsible for students living in accommodation run by his aunt’s company but held no teaching or childcare qualifications [1, 2, 3, 5].

District Judge John Ng said of the sentence, "The facts speak for themselves on the brutality the man inflicted. Being a young boy who had suffered at the hand of abusers, the offender should have been in a better position not to repeat such terrible treatment of vulnerable victims who had trusted him to care for them and even to protect them." He added, "The sentence sent out the community’s collective message – that the ill treatment and abuse of young vulnerable victims cannot be tolerated and that any cruelty against them is wholly to be condemned." [3, 5]

The court hearing concluded on August 21, 2026, with the sentencing imposed the same day [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].