S'pore man, 32, who dunked infant nephew in water & strangled him over grudge against brother-in-law, gets 14 years' jail

A 32-year-old man in Singapore was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment for subjecting his wife's infant nephew to a prolonged series of abuse, motivated by a personal grudge against the child's father.

He was sentenced in court on May 20.

The offences took place between July and September 2024, during which the victim was between nine and 11 months old.

The parties involved in the case cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of the victim.

What happened

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the man was living with his wife, mother-in-law and a domestic helper in a five-room Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat when the offences took place.

The toddler's grandmother had asked the child's father to allow him to stay over on several occasions as she missed him and wished to help care for him.

However, the man had used those visits as opportunities to abuse the child whenever he could be alone with him.

His methods of abuse included pushing the child's head face-down into a pail of water, pressing a pillow over his face, choking him repeatedly, slapping him, and forcibly twisting his arm beyond its normal range of motion.

On one occasion, the child began foaming at the mouth and lay motionless in a dazed condition after being choked by the man.

The abuse came to an end in September 2024 after a woman witnessed the man abusing the toddler at the void deck of a public housing block.

She confronted him and called the police.

Investigations later uncovered 34 videos the man had recorded of himself abusing the child, which he admitted to rewatching whenever he was reminded of a grudge he held against the toddler’s father and felt angry towards him.

Sentencing

According to CNA, during sentencing, the judge described the man's conduct as heinous acts that constituted a "grave affront to human dignity", adding that reading about the offences was deeply disturbing.

The judge noted that unlike typical abuse cases, the man's actions were not committed in the heat of the moment or arising from caregiver stress.

Instead, he had deliberately engineered opportunities to be alone with the child, making the abuse premeditated and calculated.

The judge added that by abusing the boy in public at a void deck, it enhanced his culpability and also shook the public's collective sense of safety and tranquillity.

He declined to apply the usual 30 per cent sentencing discount for a guilty plea, instead granting only a 20 per cent reduction, citing the gravity of the offences.

The man was also ordered to pay S$4,000 in compensation to the victim's family, though the judge acknowledged this fell far short of the full medical costs.

A speech therapist had recommended the child undergo individual therapy sessions twice weekly for one year, at an estimated cost of S$24,960.

Medical assessments found the abuse had likely contributed to developmental delays in the child, including moderate to severe expressive speech delay.

At the time of assessment, the child was 21-months-old but had a developmental age of 12 months.

The long-term impact on the child's neurodevelopment was among the most serious aggravating factors, the judge said.

Scuffle almost broke out outside courtroom

After delivering the sentence, the judge addressed the victim's parents directly in court, CNA reported.

"The severe sentence I've imposed reflects how gravely and unjustly your son has been harmed. No child should suffer what your son suffered, and no parent should have to go through what you're going through now," he said.

He urged the parents to work together to support their son's recovery, and cautioned them against taking matters into their own hands.

"Your son is truly precious and worthy of your love," he said.

The man's lawyer had requested his client to start the sentence in end-July instead, citing his client's need to serve out his notice period at his job and settle personal affairs.

However, the prosecution noted that the man had already been given time to settle his personal affairs after pleading guilty in April 2026.

A scuffle nearly broke out outside the courtroom during a recess, when relatives of the accused approached the victim's father, and both sides began shouting.

Security personnel intervened to separate them.

The judge later reminded all parties that there was to be no contact between the accused's family and the victim's parents following the proceedings.