- Joined
- Dec 30, 2010
- Messages
- 12,730
- Points
- 113
July 20, 2013
A former kindergarten teacher in Singapore was placed under probation for 21 months after she made a five-year-old girl strip in front of her classmates while they laughed at her.
The woman, 26, who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, also swung the girl against a whiteboard to punish her, after the girl’s classmates claimed she had hit them.
The offences were committed in a PAP Community Foundation Education Centre classroom in July and August 2011.
While the court “would have no hesitation in imposing a substantial custodial sentence” on the accused, District Judge Lim Tse Haw yesterday said this was “no ordinary case”. The Judge noted that the accused had been a victim of “unspeakable abuse for a prolonged period” when she was young and under the care of someone who should have been protecting her.
As a result, the accused experienced “significant post-traumatic stress symptomatology consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder”, Judge Lim said.
Just before the offences were committed, the woman — who was diagnosed by a National University Hospital psychiatrist to be suffering from untreated depression — experienced stress at home and at work, which amounted to a major depressive episode.
The Judge noted that the accused has been “working very hard to understand the perpetrator/victim psychology of abuse and to prevent it from ever happening again” by attending regular counselling sessions and therapy.
Further, the Judge noted the woman’s guilty plea — which saved the victim from having to testify in court — and the “high level of remorse” shown.
The accused had told her probation officer she felt guilt-ridden that she may have caused “some level of irreversible harm to the victim”.
The Judge, who noted that the child’s injuries “were not serious”, felt the sentencing principle of rehabilitation should take precedent in this case.
“It is hoped that you have learnt your lesson from these proceedings,” the Judge told the accused. “I further hope that you will avail yourself of the treatments provided for in this probation to help stop the cycle of abuse and to finally put behind the years of abuse that you have suffered as a child and to move on with your life.”
The woman was also ordered to compensate the parents of the victim with S$1,000.
Claire Huang and Leong Wai Kit. - Todayonline.com, July 20, 2013.
A former kindergarten teacher in Singapore was placed under probation for 21 months after she made a five-year-old girl strip in front of her classmates while they laughed at her.
The woman, 26, who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, also swung the girl against a whiteboard to punish her, after the girl’s classmates claimed she had hit them.
The offences were committed in a PAP Community Foundation Education Centre classroom in July and August 2011.
While the court “would have no hesitation in imposing a substantial custodial sentence” on the accused, District Judge Lim Tse Haw yesterday said this was “no ordinary case”. The Judge noted that the accused had been a victim of “unspeakable abuse for a prolonged period” when she was young and under the care of someone who should have been protecting her.
As a result, the accused experienced “significant post-traumatic stress symptomatology consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder”, Judge Lim said.
Just before the offences were committed, the woman — who was diagnosed by a National University Hospital psychiatrist to be suffering from untreated depression — experienced stress at home and at work, which amounted to a major depressive episode.
The Judge noted that the accused has been “working very hard to understand the perpetrator/victim psychology of abuse and to prevent it from ever happening again” by attending regular counselling sessions and therapy.
Further, the Judge noted the woman’s guilty plea — which saved the victim from having to testify in court — and the “high level of remorse” shown.
The accused had told her probation officer she felt guilt-ridden that she may have caused “some level of irreversible harm to the victim”.
The Judge, who noted that the child’s injuries “were not serious”, felt the sentencing principle of rehabilitation should take precedent in this case.
“It is hoped that you have learnt your lesson from these proceedings,” the Judge told the accused. “I further hope that you will avail yourself of the treatments provided for in this probation to help stop the cycle of abuse and to finally put behind the years of abuse that you have suffered as a child and to move on with your life.”
The woman was also ordered to compensate the parents of the victim with S$1,000.
Claire Huang and Leong Wai Kit. - Todayonline.com, July 20, 2013.
