16-year-old assaults mother for 8 months, father didn't intervene

SINGAPORE — A mother silently endured abuse by her 16-year-old son for at least eight months, suffering injuries that include a fractured rib.

Her husband witnessed the attacks, which took place between March and November 2022, but did not intervene.

On one occasion, the slim-built boy pulled his mother, who is about his height, into the kitchen and threatened her with a chopper, telling her "I will kill you", court documents showed.

His brother, who was 18 then, told him he would get in trouble and advised him to put the chopper aside. He complied before the police arrived at their home, where the boy lived with his parents and brother.

The teen on Monday (June 19) pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing hurt, one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and another charge of criminal intimidation.

Another two charges of voluntarily causing hurt were taken into consideration for sentencing.

There is a gag order on the identities of the accused and the victim due to the boy's age.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kwang Jia Min said the teen had a history of hitting his mother, who was 52 years old then.

The boy, who has had anger management issues since 2019, physically assaulted her every two to three weeks. Concerned for his well-being, his parents had him referred to a family service centre for counselling. He also received help at the Institute of Mental Health, where he was assessed to have anxiety issues.

The offences were committed after he stopped attending the counselling sessions in December 2021.

In March 2022, the accused punched his mother in the face several times, bruising her jaw.

He hit her again two months later, this time causing her left cheek to swell and bruise.

On Oct 17, the teen stayed up to study for his O-level examinations until about 5am the following day.

He got up at 10am, and was angry at his mother for not waking him up earlier as he had an English exam that day. He then punched her several times.

Following the incident, the victim arranged for her son to meet his counsellor on Nov 4.

She set alarms at 15-minute intervals to wake him up on time for the session. But he smashed the alarm clock instead.

The victim ended up attending the counselling session by herself. When she returned home later that day, he accused her of not waking him up for the appointment.

He was undergoing a guidance programme at the time, and missing a counselling session meant the programme would be extended.

The boy flew into a rage and rained blows on his mother, hitting her in the ribcage area, face and head.

Her ribcage ached after the assault, and she had a cut on a lip. A medical report later revealed that she had a fracture on a left rib.

But the victim did not report her son's actions to the police.

A few weeks later, the two of them were in his bedroom discussing which school he should enrol in after his O levels when he flew into a rage because his mother could not answer some of his questions about the school's curriculum.

He hit his mother on the head with a hardcover report book. She ran into her bedroom, locked herself inside and called the police.

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But her son found the key to the bedroom, opened the door and pulled her into the kitchen, threatening her with a chopper.

The prosecution called for both probation and reformative training centre reports, saying that there were doubts that the boy's father and brother could offer sufficient support for his rehabilitation.

"What we find particularly disturbing is that the accused's father did not stop (him) from assaulting his mother even though he witnessed it happening," said DPP Kwang.

The teen's defence lawyer, Mr Justin Ng from Kalco Law, asked the judge to order only a probation report.

Mr Ng said in mitigation that his client recognises that what he did was wrong.

The teen now lives apart from his mother, and has not shown any violence towards other family members, said the lawyer.

Both his parents were in court on Monday, and watched silently as their son stood in the dock.

District Judge Carol Ling ordered a probation report of the accused. The teen will return to court in August for sentencing.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.