Pregnant woman sentenced to 3 weeks’ jail for assaulting autistic boy during therapy session

SINGAPORE - An educational and behavioural therapist assaulted a severely autistic nine-year-old boy, who is unable to verbally express himself, during one of their sessions in his home.

He was later found with injuries, including bruises on his neck and left elbow.

A hidden closed-circuit television camera caught Nur Amira Muhamad Razali assaulting him and his mother alerted the police.

In an unrelated case, Nur also used criminal force on a six-year-old child with autism.

The 33-year-old offender, who is now pregnant and has a one-year-old son, was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Dec 12 after she pleaded guilty to assaulting the nine-year-old boy.

Two other charges linked to the younger victim were considered during sentencing.

Nur graduated from the Singapore Institute of Management with a degree in psychology in 2016 and completed a registered behavioural technician course four years later.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Shi Yun told the court the older victim was diagnosed with severe autism when he was four.

He had been attending educational and behavioural therapy sessions with Nur for five years before she was caught assaulting him in 2020. Each therapy session, lasting around 90 minutes, was conducted behind closed doors in a bedroom of the victim’s home.

The DPP said: “The victim’s parents shared a good relationship with the accused prior to the incident and… they even attended the accused’s wedding.”

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In June 2020, the boy’s mother noticed scratches on his back and a red lump on his hand.

She brushed the matter aside as she assumed that he had been careless. But on July 28, 2020, she found red marks on his left arm.

They resembled nail marks made by someone who could have gripped onto his left arm. The mother discovered this after her son completed a session with Nur.

She decided to install a hidden camera in the bedroom where the therapy sessions were conducted.

On the morning of July 29, 2020, Nur and the boy had a session together and Nur’s offence came to light when the mother later viewed a recording taken on the device.

The camera caught Nur performing acts including hitting his left arm and mouth. The clip showed her grabbing his neck and hitting his forehead with her right hand.

The mother lodged a police report later that day.

On Dec 12, DPP Tan urged the court to sentence Nur to between four and six weeks’ jail.

She said: “In abusing the victim in his own home, the accused had breached the trust reposed in her, as a therapist, by both the victim and his parents.

“The victim is a nine-year-old child with severe autism. He is thus unable to verbally express himself, and the accused’s wrongdoings might have gone undetected if not for the CCTV camera which the complainant installed in the bedroom.”

Defence lawyer Joyce Khoo from Quahe Woo & Palmer pleaded for her client to be given two weeks’ jail.

She told Principal District Judge Jill Tan that Nur was under a lot of stress at the time of the offence as she had been found with multiple fibroids in her body. A doctor had told her that they could affect her ability to conceive.

Fibroids are non-cancerous growth arising from the muscle wall of the womb. It is one of the most prevalent gynaecological conditions, estimated to be present in about 20 per cent to 30 per cent of women, according to the National University Hospital website.

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