SINGAPORE – A former Kinderland pre-school teacher who ill-treated several children under her care was sentenced to a year, five months and two weeks’ jail on March 13.
On March 5, Lin Min, 35, who has been fired by the school, pleaded guilty to three counts of ill-treating a child with acts that included squeezing open the mouths of two of the victims to force them to drink water.
Three other charges were considered during the Singaporean’s sentencing.
In earlier proceedings, the court heard that the former Mandarin teacher had abused a total of four children, who were between one and three years old at the time.
The case made headlines in 2023 when videos of the abuse taken by another teacher were uploaded on social media.
The court heard that Lin began working as a pre-school teacher in March 2020.
Her first victim, referred to in court documents as V1, was a year and 10 months old when the incident happened.
In June 2023, Lin saw that V1’s water bottle was full and realised that she had not been drinking water.
She then tried to get the girl to drink her water. When the child refused, Lin grabbed her by her arms and pushed her down on the floor.
Lin held the child’s mouth open by squeezing her cheeks, and used her other hand to pour water into her mouth.
Lin Min held the child’s mouth open by squeezing her cheeks, and used her other hand to pour water into her mouth.PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM FACEBOOK
Her colleague caught her in the act and took a video. In the clip, the child could be heard crying, coughing and choking.
Her parents were not aware that she had been ill-treated until two months later in August 2023, when the school informed them.
The parents later told the police that they had noticed that their daughter would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and cry “no” and say “bye bye, lao shi (teacher in Mandarin)”, referring to Lin.
On March 5, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jotham Tay said the parents believed that the little girl had wanted her teacher to “go away” when she uttered those words.
In June 2023, Lin also ill-treated a boy who was two years and five months old at the time.
When the boy, identified as V2, did not want to drink water, Lin grabbed him by both arms, turned him around and pushed him down on the floor.
V2, who screamed and struggled, broke free and sat up.
Lin was caught on video remarking in Mandarin that the boy was able to crawl quickly.
DPP Tay had said she was still able to grab him and push him onto the floor at least two more times.
When the boy broke free, Lin told him that he could “go to Japan and take part in sumo wrestling”.
Three days later, Lin again forced V2 to drink water.
This time, she grabbed him by the forehead and held his head back while she forced water into his mouth.
DPP Tay said the boy screamed and struggled throughout his ordeal.
The boy’s parents were notified of the abuse in August 2023 and learnt of the extent of Lin’s acts only when they saw videos of their son being abused.
They told the police they had observed that V2 did not like strangers touching him around his head and back.
The child would also sometimes cry and say he did not want to go to school, the court heard.
Lin’s bail was set at $15,000 on March 13 and she is expected to begin serving her sentence on March 21.
Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.
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