Ex-Kinderland teacher gets jail for abusing children in her care
Lin was filmed in viral videos mistreating children attending a pre-school in Woodlands in 2023.
PHOTO: Facebook/Rebecca Leong
PUBLISHED ONMarch 14, 2025 4:01 AMByLim KeweiA former Kinderland pre-school teacher who was filmed manhandling several children at a Woodlands pre-school was convicted in court on Thursday (March 13).
Singaporean Lin Min, 35, has been sentenced to 17 months' and two weeks jail, after previously pleading guilty to three charges of ill-treating a child. Three other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The case had made the news in August 2023 after clips of Lin forcefully feeding children liquids went viral online. One video also showed her striking a child's bottom with a book.
The Mandarin teacher was subsequently fired and barred by the Early Childhood Development Agency from working in the pre-school sector.
The court was informed in an earlier hearing that Lin had abused four children between the ages of one and three at the time, reported The Straits Times.
Lin reportedly began working as a pre-school teacher in March 2020.
Court documents which AsiaOne saw stated that Lin had forced a 23-month-old child to lie down and forcefully poured water into her mouth on June 30, 2023.
The girl would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night crying "no" and saying, "bye bye lao shi (teacher)".
Also in June, Lin manhandled a boy who was about two years old by pushing him to the floor in attempts to get him to drink water.
The boy's parents told the police they observed their son not liking strangers touching him around his head and back.
In handing down the sentence, District Judge John Ng said Lin displayed "a clear disregard to the negative impact of her acts of improper treatment" in ensuring the children are fed water, reported CNA.
The judge, however, accepted that "the accused had not acted with malice".
Lin asked for her sentence to start one week later on March 21, reportedly saying she needed to make arrangements for her child.
For ill-treating a child, Lin could be jailed for up to eight years, or fined up to $8,000, or both.
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