S’porean man, 31, made boy, 6, stay in push-up position for 18 hours, starved & forced him to drink own urine

A Singaporean man, who was supposed to teach mathematics and English to children, punched and beat them with a clothes hanger, and starved them as well.

He even forced a boy to drink his own urine.

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse, one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and one count of providing false or misleading information to the Ministry of Manpower on Jul. 9.

He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identities of the victims.

Worked in educational facility

The man was hired to work as a manager in 2016 at his aunt's educational facility, despite not having any teaching or childcare qualifications, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

The facility provided accommodation for students and workers, as well as management consultancy services for foreign students.

His responsibilities included taking care of students residing at a particular unit, teaching the primary-school-aged students mathematics and English and checking on their school homework.

Abused the pupils

Court documents showed that the man's victims were three boys from China, aged 11, 10, and six.

All three boys were hit by the man at one point and made to go up into a push-up position.

Prosecutors said he would punish the six-year-old frequently after the boy moved into the facility in January 2023.

Besides requiring that the boy hold a push-up position, he would also force him to sleep in the toilet and only provide him with bread and water instead of proper meals.

The man also hit the boy with a hanger numerous times on the buttocks and later took videos of the injuries.

18 hours of abuse

On Mar. 9, 2023, the man had made the six-year-old boy hold a push-up position while studying English at about 3:45pm.

This continued until about 5pm when the boy cried out that he was hungry, prosecutors said.

However, the man mocked the victim and did not release him from the push-up position.

He deliberately did not allow the boy to eat even as other students ate their dinner.

The boy was instead forced to hold the push-up position until the next morning.

At about 1:15am on Mar. 10, the man punched the boy and stomped on him while he was in that position.

He would then periodically hit him from 2am to 7:05am with a hanger.

At one point, the man placed a chair on the boy and sat on it, forcing the boy to lower his body in the push-up position.

He also made the boy urinate in a basin instead of using the toilet, and drink his own urine when he was thirsty.

Child was too weak to stand

At around 6am on Mar. 10, he called the boy’s father to seek permission to discipline him, which the father allowed.

However, he did not mention that he would use physical punishment, nor did he tell the father about what he had already inflicted on the boy.

The abuse continued until the night, with the man hitting and stomping on the boy at one point.

By 6:05pm, the boy was weak and unable to walk on his own, court documents said.

The man then carried him to the toilet, sprayed him with water, and asked him to wake up.

The aunt arrived at the unit at about 7:03pm and saw the state that the boy was in. She told the man to stop physically punishing the boy, but he did not listen.

He only stopped after the aunt carried the boy out of the toilet and away from him.

While the aunt had wanted to send the boy to the hospital immediately for medical attention, the man dissuaded her as he was "very scared and worried" that he would be arrested by the police.

Prosecutors said the man physically abused the boy for about 18 hours — including hitting him not less than 620 times on various parts of the body and stomping on him not less than 45 times on his back and buttocks.

During this time, the man also continued to attend to the students under his care.

Injuries

The aunt eventually brought the boy to the hospital on Mar. 14 when he complained of breathing difficulties and was coughing badly.

He was transferred immediately to the Children’s Intensive Care Unit, where he remained until Mar. 28, 2023.

The boy was assessed to have lung injury caused by blunt force to his chest, which led to a abnormal buildup of fluids in his lungs.

He also had kidney failure caused by blunt force to his back, which required nine days of dialysis.

Other injuries included muscle injury involving muscle breakdown, severe hypertension caused by kidney failure, and multiple rib fractures.

The hospital reported the boy’s injuries to the police, and the man was arrested that same day on Mar. 14, 2023.

The man was later released on bail on Mar. 30, 2023.

The boy was eventually discharged more than a month later on Apr. 28, 2023.

The man's sentencing is set for Aug. 21, 2026.