Man who kicked daughter repeatedly and dragged her by her legs jailed 9 months
An 11 year-old-girl failed to hear her father’s instructions due to an ear infection. This was enough to trigger her 34-year-old father into a rage before he unleashed a 30-minute attack on the girl during which he dragged her off the bed by her legs.
On Wednesday (4 July), the man, who works as a security guard, was jailed nine months after he pleaded guilty to one count of ill treating a child and causing her injury. Another count of voluntarily causing hurt in a separate incident was taken into consideration when the man was sentenced.
Both the man and his daughter cannot be named to protect the girl’s identity.
The court heard that on 24 July last year at about 6pm, the man was in the living room with his daughter in their flat when he asked the girl to pack his phone charger into his bag. The girl did not hear his instructions due to an ear infection and failed to pack the charger.
Angered, the man scolded the girl and threw a plastic bottle at her leg. He then went to her and used both his hands to push her into a sitting position. When the girl was on the floor, he kicked and punched her back and right thigh multiple times.
The man then grabbed the girl by her hair and threw her onto a bed. He later dragged her off the bed by her legs, causing her head to hit the bed frame. But he wasn’t done yet – the man dragged her for five metres before kicking her a few more times.
Towards the end of the attack, the man shook the girl and asked her to leave the house.
After leaving the house, the girl borrowed her neighbour’s phone to call her grandfather, who called the police.
The girl was treated at National University Hospital the next day and was found with a bruise on her arm, a hemorrhage in her head, and scars over her shin and elbows. She was warded at the hospital for five days.
Police investigations revealed that this was not the first time that the man had abused his daughter.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelly Ho asked for nine months’ jail for the man, saying he had wilfully inflicted the injuries on the girl during the sustained attack.
The man’s lawyer, Melvin Loh, asked for eight months as he had been punished enough since his daughter no longer stays with him. “He momentarily lost control of his temper when his daughter misbehaved,” said Loh, adding that the man was seeking treatment for his anger management issues at the Institute of Mental Health.
For ill treating a child, the man could have been jailed up to four years and/or fined $4,000.
