SINGAPORE – A man who vented his anger on his baby nephew by abusing him over three months and recording the acts with his phone was sentenced to 14 years’ jail on May 20.
The 32-year-old man, who cannot be named due to a gag order, had in April pleaded guilty to eight counts of ill-treatment of a child.
The offender was also ordered to pay $4,000 in compensation to the victim’s parents.
In meting out the sentence, District Judge Koo Zhi Xuan called the offender’s acts on his nephew exceptionally cruel and sadistic.
Doctors also said the abuse had likely contributed to the boy’s developmental delays, noted the judge.
Judge Koo added that it was deeply distressing to read of the acts, but what was truly harrowing in the case was that the offender recorded the abuse while the baby was crying in agony.
The court heard that the man was fuelled by a visceral hatred for his wife’s younger brother and wanted to abuse his son.
He would watch the videos he took of the abuse whenever he was angry with his brother-in-law. Court documents did not state the reason for his anger.
Judge Koo said the offender’s act of recording the videos was highly dehumanising and sickening, which is worthy of the strongest condemnation.
At the time of the offences, the man and his wife lived in a five-room flat with the baby’s grandmother.
In mid-2024, the grandmother told her son-in-law to take his baby, who was between nine months and 11 months old, to her home as she missed him.
The victim’s father would let the baby stay over at the grandmother’s place for a few days at a time. The baby was cared for by his grandmother, a domestic helper and the offender.
The uncle would abuse the baby whenever he was left alone with him.
