Former Kinderland teacher in S'pore admits she force-fed crying girl with water

A former Kinderland preschool teacher has admitted in court to pulling a crying two-year-old boy's head and pushing a 22-month-old girl to lie down on the ground to force them to drink water.

Lin Min, 35, was a preschool teacher working at a Kinderland outlet in Singapore.

She was fired by the school after videos of the abusive acts filmed by a fellow teacher went viral online in 2023.

After the case was heard in February, Lin was given more charges, and now faces six charges involving four children in total.

On Mar. 5, Lin pleaded guilty to three counts of ill-treating a child, according to The Straits Times.

The other three charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

Pinched girl's cheek to force-feed her water

The court heard that one victim ill-treated by Lin was a girl, V1, who was one year and 10 months old at the time.

Lin was her Mandarin teacher.

On Jun. 30, 2023, Lin noticed that V1 was not drinking water, so she took the girl's water bottle and titled it towards her to persuade her to drink.

However, V1 turned away from her.

Lin was seen in a video grabbing V1 forcefully around her mouth, and saying, "No, drink water."

When V1 started crying, Lin raised her voice and repeated the instruction a few times but this did not work.

Later, Lin grabbed the girl by the arms and pushed her into a lying position.

Lin then held V1’s mouth open by pinching her cheeks with her left hand, and poured water into her mouth using her right hand.

Even though the girl was crying and started coughing and choking on the water, Lin did not stop.

Lin then sat V1 up and commented in Mandarin that the water had gone into V1’s mouth, but as her mouth remained open, the water had flowed out.

The girl's parents were told by the school on Aug. 17, 2023, that Lin had forced V1 to drink water.

They only found out about the extent of the acts when they saw a video shared by other sources.

V1's parents told police that they previously observed the girl would wake up in the middle of the night sometimes and cry.

The girl would say "No" and "Bye bye laoshi (teacher in Mandarin)", which her parents understood to mean she wanted her teacher to go away.

Pulled crying boy's head to get him to drink water

Lin also admitted to force-feeding another student water in June 2023.

The boy, V2, was about two years and five months old at the time.

On Jun. 27, 2023, Lin got angry when V2 did not want to drink water.

Lin grabbed both of the boy's arms, and turned his body to push him down against the floor so he would lie down.

The boy screamed, struggled and broke free.

Lin repeated this process twice more on the screaming and crying boy, but he managed to sit back up.

Lin then remarked in Mandarin that V2 "crawled very quickly", adding that he "could go to Japan and take part in sumo wrestling".

On Jun. 30, 2023, Lin tried to get V2 to drink water while he was seated on a chair.

Lin was seen in a video grabbing V2 by his forehead using her left hand, and holding his head backward while trying to feed him water.

The boy screamed and struggled, dislodging Lin's grip.

This was repeated several times before Lin released V2 and put down the bottle.

Lin remarked in Mandarin that while she was holding to V2, she was unable to feed him.

Then, Lin grabbed V2's forehead again and held his mouth open, causing the boy to scream and struggle.

After releasing him, Lin turned V2's chair around for him to face her.

Lin then passed him the water bottle and asked him to “drink water”, saying that otherwise, she would feed him.

After this, V2 took some sips of water, and Lin instructed him to drink more. He complied.

V2's parents only found out about the incident when they were informed by the school on Aug. 21, 2023.

They told police that they previously observed V2 would show a dislike for strangers touching him around his head and back, and would sometimes cry and not want to go to school.

Sometimes, the boy would also get nightmares and say “No, no, no I don’t want” in his sleep.

Prosecution sought 18 to 24 months' jail

The prosecution sought a sentence of 18 to 24 months' jail for Lin, arguing that her abusive acts were not simply a case of her being "overzealous in her attempt to care for the children", but were done "deliberately and wilfully".

“The children were in distress and yet she persisted in her acts, including one that was so extreme that she poured water down the child’s throat as she was crying on the floor,” the prosecutor said as cited by ST.

The prosecution noted in their submissions that for V1's case, pouring water into her mouth like that "brings to mind forms of water torture" and risked asphyxiation.

And for V2's case, the prosecution pointed out that Lin bent the boy's head backwards "almost to a 90-degree angle" three times, which would have been highly distressing and painful.

Defence's arguments

Lin’s defence lawyer argued that Lin had not been acting out of malice or cruelty, according to ST.

The lawyer said Lin's case was different from the ones where victims suffered bruises.

The lawyer also disagreed with the prosecution that V1's life had been in danger from asphyxiation, opining that the chances of that happening were "very low".

He also said, as reported by ST:

“It is a very difficult job she does as a caregiver. She did the wrong thing and she will be paying for it with a very heavy price.”

Lin's sentencing has been adjourned to a later date.

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Top image from Childcare in Singapore/Facebook & Lianhe Zaobao