After getting to know each other in November 2019, a 36-year-old Singaporean man and a 36-year-old Singaporean woman started living together in February 2020.

The man initially had a "good relationship" with the woman's 11-year-old special needs daughter, who has high-functioning autism, mild fluency disorder and dyslexia.

She also called him "Daddy" at times.

But it was not long before they started to cane her, frequently, over what they "perceived" as "misbehaviour".

After months of beating, on Aug. 22, 2020, when the daughter told the man that caning would not make things better, he used a leather belt to "slap" her about 20 times instead — all while the woman, her mother, was watching.

19cm x 10cm bruise on her leg

The incident came to light when a school teacher discovered extensive bruising on the girl's arms and legs two days later.

It was not the first time the teacher saw bruises on her body — she had tried to intervene — and it was a lot worse than what she had seen before.

The girl also told her she was "very scared" to return home.

The teacher reported the matter to the school, which notified the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

Later the same day, the victim was brought by an MSF child protection officer to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

A medical report listed at least 13 different injuries, including a swollen cheek, up to 9cm x 10cm size bruises on her arms and up to 19cm x 10cm bruises on both of her legs.

The girl was hospitalised for 10 days.

Both the man and woman were charged in court for crimes under the Childen and Young Persons Act.

A gag order has been placed on their identities to protect the victim's identity.

Caned & other punishments for her 'misbehaviour'

Court documents revealed more details of the couple's treatment of the girl leading up to the final incident.

They started with a hanger and eventually progressed to caning her with a cane.

They also claimed to have looked into "alternative methods" of "dealing with the victim", which include removing the victim’s privileges, asking her to write lines, forcing her to face the wall, and forcing her to stand in one spot.

The woman also claimed to have "searched online to find recommendations on how to improve the victim’s behaviour".

In June 2020, they caned the victim together because she "did not complete her home-based learning assignment".

In July 2020, they caned her legs over her blanket with a cane as "her alarm for school went off, and she did not wake up or turn it off".

On Aug. 10, 2020, the man punished the victim by asking her to stand while carrying her bag on her back for about half an hour because "she did not want to do her homework".

The next day, he caned her for "perceived misbehaviour".

The victim's teacher noticed the caning marks and asked for a meeting with the woman, but the woman could only meet on Aug. 26 because she was "not available on an earlier date".

On Aug. 13, the man caned the victim on her arms with a cane because "she complained about having to do household chores".

On Aug. 17, the man and woman both caned the victim with a cane because "she slept in class and did not come home straight after school".

On Aug. 20, the man caned the victim on her arms and legs with a cane because of "perceived misbehaviour" again.

The woman was always present whenever the man caned the victim and permitted him to do so.

Victim traumatised

According to the prosecution, after being arrested, the man and woman admitted that they "went overboard" and had "punished the victim very harshly".

They had punished the victim on Aug. 22 because they said her "EZ-link card was running out quickly, she lost her pocket money, she was performing poorly in school, and she had asked her teachers for pocket money".

Police seized the hanger, cane and belt used against the victim.

In a medical report dated Feb. 22, 2021, the victim was noted to be "feeling sad and fearful since the... abuse and has been having nightmares and recurrent thoughts about the... abuse".

Both the man and the woman pleaded guilty to ill-treating the child, and their sentences will be passed at a later date.

Top image from Canva