S'porean man, 31, who made boy, 6, stay in push-up position for 18 hours & drink his own urine, jailed 9 years & 10 months

A 31-year-old Singaporean man who abused multiple primary school students under his care in 2023 has been handed nine years and 10 months' jail, with eight strokes of the cane.

The man, who was supposed to teach mathematics and English to the children under his aunt's private educational facility, punched and beat them with a clothes hanger.

He also starved them and forced one boy to drink his own urine.

The accused cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the identity of the victims, who were between six and 11 at the time.

Hired as teacher

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the man was hired by his aunt to work as a manager in 2016 despite not having any teaching or childcare qualifications.

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

Aside from teaching the students and checking on their school homework, the man's responsibilities included taking care of students residing at a particular unit.

His three victims, boys from China aged six, 10 and 11, 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.

The victim was forced to sleep in the toilet and only provided with bread and water instead of proper meals.

He was also hit with a hanger numerous times on the buttocks, with the man taking videos of the injuries.

18-hour abuse on 6-year-old boy

On Mar. 9, 2023, the man made the six-year-old boy hold a push-up position while studying English from 3:45pm to 5pm, when the boy cried out that he was hungry.

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

He also prevented the boy from eating as other students ate their dinner, instead forcing him to hold the push-up position until the next morning.

At about 1:15am on Mar. 10, 2023, the man punched the boy and stomped on him while he was in that position.

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

At one point, he 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.

Called boy's father for permission to discipline child

Court documents indicate that the man called the boy's father at about 6am on Mar. 10, 2023 to seek permission to discipline his son.

The father allowed this, but was not made aware that the man would use physical punishment.

He was also not informed that that man had already inflicted abuse on the boy.

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

By 6:05pm, the victim was weak and unable to walk on his own.

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

When the man's aunt arrived at the unit at about 7:03pm and saw the state that the boy was in, she told him to stop physically punishing the boy, but he did not comply.

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

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

Prosecutors said that the physical abuse by the man lasted about 18 hours.

The man had hit the boy not less than 620 times on various parts of the body and stomped on him not less than 45 times on his back and buttocks.

Arrest

The man continued to attend to the other students under his care.

The boy's injuries eventually came to light on Mar. 14 when he was brought to the hospital by the man's aunt when he complained of breathing difficulties and was coughing badly.

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

He was assessed to have lung injury caused by blunt force to his chest, which led to an 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.

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

Sentencing

The man 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, 2025.

During his sentencing on Aug. 21, 2026, he reportedly kept his head down and occasionally looked towards his family in the court, according to The Straits Times (ST).

The judge said the facts speak for themselves when it came to the brutality of the acts committed on the victims, especially on the six-year-old boy.

According to ST, while the defence raised that the man had an alcoholic father and a gangster older brother who physically abused him when he was young, the judge said it "does not excuse the behaviour and cruel acts that he committed".

"Being a young boy who had suffered at the hands of abusers, the offender should have been in a better position not to repeat such treatment to vulnerable victims who had trusted him to care for them and protect them," ST cited.

The deputy public prosecutors added that the man had abused the trust placed in him in caring for the victims by inflicting violence on them.

His request to have his sentenced deferred for a week to attend prayers was rejected.