Franklin Tan Guang Wei’s repeated ill treatment of his girlfriend’s one-year-old son was so extreme that it was a miracle the infant survived the prolonged ordeal.
The last incident of child abuse was the most heinous one — Tan shoved the baby off the bed, causing the child to land on the ground two metres away and break his skull.
The 25-year-old tormentor has since been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail with six strokes of the cane — a deterrent sentence required to send out a warning over the man’s reprobate conduct, The Straits Times reported.
Now aged three, the boy is in foster care after being taken away from his mother and Tan. He is still undergoing rehabilitative therapy.
The child’s 25-year-old mother had started a relationship with Tan in August 2014, and got pregnant with his child later in November. She moved in with him soon after.
On Nov 8, Tan slapped the child once after being woken up by the baby’s cries. It left finger marks on the boy’s cheek and bruising near his ear — injuries that were photographed by a nanny. When confronted, the mother claimed her son fell off the bed.
A police report was lodged over the injuries, and Child Protective Service (CSP) placed the baby in the nanny’s care with only weekly supervised access given for Tan and his girlfriend. They were later suspended from all contact when scratches were found on his thighs after a visit.
In February last year, they were granted supervised access again. The month after that, Tan threw the baby at his mother, frustrated by his cries. Weeks later, Tan hit the child’s buttocks twice — again angered by his cries.
The child was left alone with the cruel man when the girlfriend went to work. Angry that the baby vomited on the bed, Tan forcefully pushed him off the bed with his right arm.
Landing on the floor face-up, the child vomited again. Tan then took the baby for a shower but accidentally scalded the child when he didn’t check the water temperature first.
After noticing the baby to be in a dazed, semi-conscious and very pale state, Tan and his girlfriend took him to hospital. The infant had bleeding in his brain, and had to undergo emergency brain surgery.
“The most glaring and obvious aggravating factor is the fact that these acts of abuse were committed against a defenceless and vulnerable child,” said District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim about the case.
As for the mother, she has been charged with two counts of permitting Tan to ill treat the baby, and will go on trial on Sept 26.
