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A man who slapped and rained blows on a 12-year-old boy has been sentenced to jail on Sep. 2, 2021.

The incident, which occurred in November 2020, saw the man get angry with the boy who was cycling on a track near Block 438 Hougang Avenue 8.

This was despite cycling being allowed there.

Told boy he was not allowed to cycle on track when it is permitted

The boy's father, surnamed Tan, previously spoke to Mothership, and shared that his son met the man, 67-year-old Chua Chek Yong, for the first time on Nov. 13, 2020.

Chua approached the boy to say that he was not allowed to cycle in that area.

On Nov. 20, Chua approached the boy a second time after seeing him again.

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Chua saw the boy at around 6:15pm and told him that he should not be cycling on the track, and that if he caught him doing so again, he would deflate his bicycle's tires.

The boy then went to cycle on the pavement.

Some 15 minutes later, Chua saw the boy once again on the track. He proceeded to start questioning the boy.

When the boy asked, "Who say I can't ride here?", Chua replied "I say. The government say."

He then asked the boy not to argue with him, and slapped the boy's face with the back of his hand.

This was all caught on video on the phone belonging to the boy.

Punched boy five to eight times

Chua also forcefully grabbed the boy's phone, and then started to punch the boy in his face, head, stomach and chest area.

Chua punched the boy around five to eight times. The boy did not retaliate.

A passer-by, Chiang Kai Li, witnessed what happened, and offered help to the boy, who later called his father.

Chiang and Tan then saw Chua nearby a short while later, and confronted him.

Chua apologised, and said that if Tan was unhappy with how he had hit the boy, the father could beat Chua.

Tan then called the police.

Paramedics assessed that the boy suffered abrasion and redness on his jaw.

At KK Women's and Children's Hospital, doctors found that he also had a hematoma (bleeding outside the blood vessels) on the back of his head.

Since then, Chua has paid restitution of S$120 to Tan for the boy's medical bills.

Accused behaved like a "bully"

When questioned by the police, Chua initially admitted that he had slapped the boy, but denied punching him.

The prosecution argued that Chua had behaved like "an absolute bully", and had assaulted the boy not once, "which might be taken as a sudden loss of anger", but multiple times.

It also noted that Chua had reasoned that he "mistakenly believed that cycling was prohibited on the track", and was "worried for the safety and well-being of himself and his fellow pedestrians".

However, these were not excuses for Chua to behave in a "thuggish manner", the prosecution added.

Taking into account his lack of past convictions and timely plea of guilt, Chua was charged with voluntarily causing hurt to a person under the age of 14.

He was sentenced to five days' jail, reported Today.

Chua could have been imprisoned for up to six years, fined up to S$10,000 or both.

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Top photo from Tan