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SCMP’s Asia desk

A Singaporean man, hired by his aunt to tutor primary school pupils, instead beat them with a clothes hanger, forced them to hold push-up positions for long periods, punched and starved them.
One of the children, a six-year-old Chinese national, was abused for 18 hours and forced to drink his own urine.
On Thursday, the 31-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse, one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and one of giving false or misleading information to police, local media reported.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the children’s identity, was hired by his aunt in 2016 to manage her educational facility, which provided accommodation and management consultancy services for students and workers.
Despite having no childcare or teaching qualifications, he was responsible for the pupils at the facility, teaching them mathematics and English and checking their homework.
In January 2023, the six-year-old entered the facility, where the man regularly punished him, forced him to sleep in the toilet and fed him only bread and water.

On March 9, 2023, the boy was told to get into a push-up position as punishment while studying English. He had to maintain that position from 3.45pm until the next morning, and was not allowed to have dinner with the others.
The man continued to abuse the boy throughout the night, punching him and sitting on him while he was in the push-up position. When the boy needed to use the toilet, he made him urinate in a basin and drink from it.
At about 6am, the man called the boy’s father and asked for permission to discipline him, without telling him about what he had already inflicted on the boy. After the father gave his consent, the man beat the boy with a clothes hanger until it broke and stomped on him.
The man’s aunt returned to the facility at 7pm and told him to stop, but he continued beating and kicking the boy.
He stopped his aunt from taking the boy, who was too weak to stand by then, to the hospital for fear of being arrested.
Four days later, the aunt took the boy to the hospital after he complained of difficulty breathing.
The boy remained in intensive care for two weeks. He was diagnosed with a lung injury and kidney failure from blows to his chest and back, as well as muscle breakdown and multiple rib fractures.
The man subjected the boy to “not discipline, but torment”, Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh said, as quoted by CNA.
Two older boys, both Chinese nationals, were also abused in a similar manner but to a lesser extent. One of the boys informed his parents of the abuse on March 2, 2023, and a police report was lodged the next day.
The man will be sentenced on August 21.

Similar cases of carer abuse have recently come to light in Singapore courts.
Last November, a 32-year-old Singaporean woman was charged with hitting two boys – aged eight months and 16 months – under her care.
That same month, a 36-year-old preschool teacher appeared in court for abusing three children. She was accused of force-feeding a one-year-old until she vomited and stuffing a bib into an eight-month-old baby’s mouth.
In October 2025, a woman working at a kindergarten care centre was sentenced to six months’ jail for ill-treating three children aged between four and five.
One case that shocked the city state was that of four-year-old Megan Khung, who died after months of abuse by her mother, Foo Li Ping, and Foo’s then boyfriend Brian Wong in 2020.
In October last year, Singapore Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli pledged to “do everything possible to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies”, CNA reported.


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Pupils at the educational facility endured months of abuse by the 31-year-old, who had no childcare or teaching qualifications


Pupils at the educational facility endured months of abuse by the 31-year-old, who had no childcare or teaching qualifications.


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Singaporean man hired to tutor children forced 6-year-old to drink urine in 18-hour abuse

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Pupils at the educational facility endured months of abuse by the 31-year-old, who had no childcare or teaching qualifications

Pupils at the educational facility endured months of abuse by the 31-year-old, who had no childcare or teaching qualifications