Ex-Kinderland teacher, 35, who force-fed children water, gets 17 months, 2 weeks' jail

A woman, who was a Kinderland preschool Mandarin teacher, was sentenced to 17 months and two weeks jail on Mar. 13 for her role in the abuse of four children, aged between one and three years old.

Lin Min, 35, had pleaded guilty to three counts of ill-treating a child, CNA reported.

Three charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The names and locations of the offences cannot be revealed due to a gag order.

What judge said

According to CNA, the district judge said he could not accept the argument by the defence that Lin's actions were due to her "overzealousness", but he could accept that she "had not acted with malice".

He noted that there was "psychological trauma caused to the victims", parents and other children who saw the abuse, but noted that there was "low physical harm".

The judge took into account Lin's lack of criminal history, her two weeks in remand in the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in 2023, and the full sentencing discount as a result of her guilty plea.

Lin appealed to have her sentence deferred by a week as she said she has to make arrangements for her child.

Background of case

Lin's case occurred in 2023.

The incidents were caught on video and circulated online.

Lin was subsequently fired and banned from working in the preschool sector.

Following the disclosure of footage involving Lin, a number of incidents involving other teachers from the same preschool chain were then made public.

Details of abuse

Girl victim

According to court documents, Lin was found to have poured water into the mouth of a girl after the child was forced to lie down.

The girl, almost two years old when the incident occurred on Jun. 30, 2023, was heard coughing and choking on water.

The child subsequently woke up at night crying and saying "No" and "Bye bye lao shi (teacher)".

The girl's parents were not aware of this incident until the preschool informed them on Aug. 17, 2023.

They subsequently saw the video on Aug. 28, 2023 from other sources.

This was when they realised the extent of Lin's actions.

Boy victim

Earlier in the same month that Lin abused the girl, she had also tried to get a boy, who was then more than two years old, to forcibly lie down to drink water.

On Jun. 27, 2023, Lin pushed the boy into a lying down position but he crawled away.

She then pushed him back down into the same position twice, as the boy screamed and made noise.

On Jun. 30, Lin made the same boy drink water again.

This time she hooked the back of his shirt on the chair's backrest to stop the boy from falling off.

She then held the boy's head backwards by grabbing his forehead in an attempt to feed him water.

She also held on to his arm.

She then stopped for a while and instructed the other children to drink water.

The boy's parents were not aware of this incident until the school informed them on Aug. 21, 2023.

They subsequently saw the video on Aug. 28, 2023 from other sources and realised the extent of Lin's acts.

This boy would say, "No, no, no I don't want", in his sleep and would not like strangers touching him around his head and back, and would sometimes cry and not want to go to school.

For ill-treating a child, Lin could have been jailed for up to eight years, and/ or fined up to S$8,000.

Top photos from videos circulated online