Former Kinderland teacher admits to ill-treating kids

A former pre-school teacher employed by Kinderland has admitted to ill-treating the children under her charge, with acts that included squeezing open the mouths of two children to force-feed them water.

Lin Min pleaded guilty on March 5 to three counts of ill-treating a child.

The court heard she had abused a total of four children, who were between one and three years old at the time. Three other similar charges will be taken into consideration for her sentencing, which is slated for March 13.

The Mandarin teacher, 35, has since been fired by the school.

The case made headlines in 2023 when videos of the abuse taken by another teacher were uploaded on social media.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jotham Tay said Lin began working as a pre-school teacher in March 2020.

Her first victim, referred to in court documents as V1, was a year and 10 months old when the incident happened.

The victims cannot be named due to a gag order protecting their identities.

In June 2023, Lin saw V1's water bottle was full and realised she had not been drinking water.

She tried to get the girl to drink her water, but when she refused, Lin grabbed her by her arms and pushed her down on the floor.

Lin held the child's mouth open by squeezing her cheeks, and used her other hand to pour water into her mouth. Her colleague caught her in the act and took a video. In the video, the child could be heard crying, coughing and choking on the water.

The child's parents were not aware that their daughter had been ill-treated until two months later in August 2023, when the school informed them.

The parents told the police that they had noticed their daughter would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and cry "no" and say "bye bye lao shi (teacher in Mandarin)", referring to Lin.

DPP Tay said the parents believed that when she said this, she meant that she wanted her teacher to "go away".

Lin ill-treated another child in June 2023. He was two years and five months old at the time.

When the boy, identified as V2, did not want to drink water, Lin grabbed him by both arms, turned his body around and pushed him down on the floor.

V2 screamed and struggled, broke free and sat up.

Lin was caught on video remarking in Mandarin that the boy was able to crawl quickly.

DPP Tay said she was still able to grab him and push him onto the floor at least two more times, but he broke free each time. Lin told the child that he could "go to Japan and take part in sumo wrestling".

Three days later, Lin again used force to get V2 to drink water.

This time, she grabbed him by the forehead and held his head back while she forced water into his mouth.

DPP Tay said the boy screamed and struggled throughout.

The boy's parents were notified of the abuse in August 2023 and only learnt of the extent of Lin's acts when they saw videos of their son being abused.

They told the police they had observed that V2 did not like strangers touching him around his head and back, and would sometimes cry and say he did not want to go to school. He would also have nightmares and say "no, no, no, I don't want" in his sleep, said DPP Tay.

Seeking a jail term of 18 to 24 months, DPP Tay said there was an obvious element of cruelty in the acts Lin committed.

"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," he said.

Referring to the defence's written mitigation plea, DPP Tay said he disagreed with the defence's point that Lin had acted out of an overzealous concern for the well-being of the children.

The DPP said Lin was not actually concerned for their well-being as it was obvious that they were in distress and suffering because of her acts.

Lin's defence lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan urged the court to consider that his client was not acting out of malice or a desire to be cruel.

He said her case was different from others where the victims had bruises.

Mr Kalidass also disagreed with the prosecution, who said that V1 was at risk of asphyxiation.

"The chances of asphyxiation were very low. There was choking and discomfort but not to the point where a life is endangered," he said.

He added: "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."

For ill-treating a child, an offender can be jailed for up to eight years, and/or fined up to $8,000.