Man who abused toddler for months by choking him and dunking him in water gets 14 years’ jail

After the judge finished speaking to them, the victim’s parents were ushered out of the court, and he reminded the accused and other family members that there should be no contact between them and the victim and his parents. 

THE CASE

The offender worked as a paramedic with a private ambulance service at the time of the offences. He lived in a five-room flat with his wife, his mother-in-law and a maid. The victim is the firstborn child of the offender’s brother-in-law.

Around mid-2024, the man’s mother-in-law, who is also the victim’s grandmother, asked that the victim come to the flat, as she wanted to play with the child.

The grandmother said the other family members in the flat could help take care of the victim. The boy then started going over to the flat, staying a few days each time.

When the boy stayed over, his grandmother and the maid would look after him. The offender also helped out when he was home, playing with the boy, feeding him, putting him to sleep or taking him out for walks.

The boy stayed at their flat for the first time in mid-July 2024. The offender abused him on two of the five days the boy stayed over.

On one occasion, he offered to shower the boy and placed him in a pail filled with water, before he forcefully pushed his head face down. He held the boy’s head submerged in the water for about six seconds.

The boy gasped for air and resumed crying when the offender released his head. These acts were captured on the offender’s mobile phone.

The offender’s wife later dried and clothed the boy and left him alone with the offender, who was supposed to put the child to sleep.

While the nine-month-old boy was lying face-up on the bed, the offender struck the boy’s face and body multiple times with a bolster.

He took a pillow and pressed it down on the boy’s face for about 10 seconds, while the child struggled and cried. The man continued hitting the boy with a bolster and forcefully twisted the boy’s wrist.

He also shook the boy forcefully up and down and slapped his face, filming all of his acts.

Around mid-August 2024, the victim’s grandmother called the victim’s father and said she missed the child. At this time, the victim’s mother was heavily pregnant with her second child.

The victim’s father took the boy to stay with the offender for five days. He noticed that his son cried and did not want to stay there.

The offender abused the boy multiple times over this period, including flicking the boy’s mouth and face at a void deck, slapping him forcefully seven times, holding him upside down by his leg, pinching and twisting the child’s ear and choking the boy while holding him in the air by his neck.

The boy cried loudly throughout.

On another occasion, the offender inserted a clothes hanger into the back of the victim’s shirt and lifted it up, holding the boy in the air.

He walked around with the boy hanging from the hanger before dropping the toddler from height onto a mattress on the ground.

The boy continued to cry as the offender grabbed his neck and choked him for more than 10 seconds. The boy kicked and struggled, gasping for air when the offender released him.

The offender also force-fed the boy with a milk bottle containing water, causing the water to flow out of the crying boy’s mouth.

On Aug 15, 2024, the man took the boy into his bedroom and closed the door before abusing him. He lifted the boy by his singlet and dropped him onto the bed, making the boy cry.

He choked the victim with his hands for about 15 seconds, and the boy gasped for air and appeared dazed. 

The man then choked the boy again for 17 seconds with his knee pressed on the victim’s foot, causing the boy to start foaming at the mouth.

The boy lay motionless in a dazed condition after the man released him. 

The man later choked the boy into a dazed state a third time that day, holding the position for 20 seconds this time. He recorded all his acts.

Court documents contained multiple other descriptions of the man’s abuse against the boy, including smothering the boy, slapping his face, twisting his arm and punching his face.

PASSERBY SPOTS ABUSE

On Sep 15, 2024, the victim’s grandmother suggested bringing the victim home with her since the victim’s mother had just given birth and the victim was unwell.

The next day, the offender suggested taking the boy downstairs for a walk.

He placed the boy on a metal table at the void deck and began filming himself abusing the child, who was by now 11 months old.

The man smacked the boy’s head, grabbed his hair forcefully, hit the boy repeatedly and forcefully twisted his arm, causing the boy to cry out in pain.

The boy had sat up crying when the man punched him in the face, causing the toddler to fall over backwards.

The offender punched the boy repeatedly, shook his head forcefully and slapped him until he fell over.

The child was shrieking when the man smacked his mouth and choked him until he fell into a daze.

Around this time, a woman passed by with her husband and her son. She noticed the offender and the child and observed the offender’s actions for a while before calling the police.

In her call, she said: “I see a man with a toddler and the way he is treating him is really rough, like abuse. He drags and shifts the kid towards him and shaking him, the kind that can cause concussion.”

The woman approached the offender while taking a video. The man was choking the boy at this time.

Loudly, the woman asked what he thought he was doing. Upon hearing the woman, the offender immediately released his grip on the boy’s neck and started patting his chest.

He claimed he was trying to put the boy to sleep.

The woman confronted the offender about what she had seen, but the man brushed her off. When the woman tried to stop him from leaving, the offender asked her what her problem was.

He said he “knew how to take care of his kid” and told her not to be “extra”. He checked that the woman was not following him before returning to the flat.

The police arrived and spoke with the woman about what she saw.

They identified the offender and arrested him at the flat later that same day.

The child was taken to the hospital for medical checks. His parents were very shocked and did not know why the offender would abuse the victim.

When the victim’s mother went to the hospital, she saw that her son looked terrified and kept crying. He also had no reaction when she tried to play with him or sing to him, instead looking at her blankly.

Investigations revealed multiple videos capturing the abuse on the offender’s phone.

He admitted to abusing the boy because of a “personal grudge” against the child’s father. He also admitted that he had transferred the videos to his tablet device and would watch them whenever he was reminded of his grudge and felt angry towards the victim’s father.

Details of the grudge were not revealed in open court, with the man’s lawyer saying in his mitigation plea that he would not elaborate further on “the broken relationship” between the offender and his brother-in-law, as “it would serve no purpose”.

MITIGATION

In April, Mr Chew had called this an “appalling and egregious case of child abuse by the accused against his infant nephew-in-law”.

“He repeatedly tortured the victim in a cruel and inhumane way, with the abuse escalating over time,” said Mr Chew.

The abuse inflicted pain, fear and distress and also posed significant danger to the child’s life and safety, he added.

The man had engineered opportunities to be alone with the victim and even filmed the abuse for future consumption, Mr Chew said, calling this “calculated” and “sadistic”.

In his mitigation plea, his lawyers said that their client committed the offences because of a “visceral hatred” for the victim’s father.

However, the offender conceded that regardless of any reasons, there was no justification for his actions.

In his police statements, he said he was extremely remorseful and sincerely apologised to the victim and his family.

“I’m deeply ashamed of the acts that I had done. I truly never intend to cause any harm to my nephew,” said the offender. “I’m prepared and ready to face the consequences of my actions. I promise something like this would not happen again.”

The man was immensely grateful that the victim did not sustain any significant injury, said Mr Gill. 

He had been diagnosed with “mixed depressive and anxiety disorder” and placed on medication, but no causal or contributory link to the offences was found, his lawyer added.

The man had “readily obliged” the victim’s parents’ requests for domestic helpers, bearing all costs for four maids between November 2024 and December 2025, Mr Gill noted.

He also voluntarily paid for the victim’s medical expenses and gave monthly sums of money to the victim’s family, said the defence.

In a letter he wrote to the court, the man said there was no excuse for his behaviour. “I cannot undo what was happened, but I carry this regret with me always,” he wrote.

“I recognise that I need to change, and I am committed to doing so.”