17 months, 2 weeks' jail for ex-Kinderland teacher who force-fed children water

SINGAPORE: A former Mandarin teacher from a Kinderland preschool was handed a jail term of 17 months and two weeks on Thursday (Mar 13) over the abuse of four children, including force-feeding two of them water. 

Lin Min, 35, previously pleaded guilty to three counts of ill-treating a child, with three charges of a similar nature taken into consideration. The children in the charges were between one and three years old. Their names, along with the specific location of the offences cannot be revealed due to a gag order. 

In passing the sentence, District Judge John Ng said that he could not accept the defence's argument that Lin had the welfare of the children in mind and that the offences had occurred as a result of overzealousness. 

"The accused had displayed a clear disregard to the negative impact of her acts of improper treatment in her attempts to make sure the children drink water. 

"However, I do accept that the accused had not acted with malice," said Judge Ng. 

He noted that there was low physical harm, but that the psychological trauma caused to the victims, their parents and the other children at the childcare centre who had witnessed the incidents, could not be overlooked. 

The judge factored in the full sentencing discount for Lin's plea of guilt and the fact that Lin has no criminal history. He also took into account the two weeks that Lin was remanded in the Institute of Mental Health in 2023.

After the sentence was passed, Lin asked through her lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan to defer the start of her jail term for a week, saying that she needed to make arrangements for her child who is needy and quite attached to her.  

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

Lin's case made the news in 2023 after videos of the incidents circulated online. A few incidents involving other teachers from the same preschool chain emerged after that. Lin was then fired and barred from working in the preschool sector.

Court documents from a previous hearing stated that Lin had forced one victim - a girl who was nearly two years old - to lie down, and poured water into her mouth on Jun 30, 2023.

This girl could be heard coughing and choking on water. After her ordeal, the girl would wake up in the middle of the night, crying and saying "no" and "bye bye lao shi (teacher)". 

Also in June 2023, an angry Lin tried to get a boy, then about two years old, to drink water by manhandling him to lie on the floor. 

A few days later, she grabbed his forehead and held his head backwards in an attempt to feed him water. This boy would have nightmares saying "no, no, no I don't want". 

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jotham Tay had said during sentencing submissions that Lin's acts had an "obvious element of cruelty", whereas Mr Kalidass maintained that his client had not been acting out of malice and cruelty, but had been concerned that the children might get dehydrated.  

For ill-treating a child, Lin could have been jailed for up to eight years, and/or fined up to S$8,000 (US$6,000).