Toddler assaulted by grown man; boy’s mother accuses police of incompetence

No respectable parent would stay quiet and twiddle their thumbs waiting for justice — especially when it involves their young children getting physically assaulted by strangers.

So who could blame an angry mother for raging at the police, who she accused of being “useless”? Emotions sure can run high.

Vivien Chan took to Facebook to express her outrage at the Singapore Police Force (SPF), who, according to her account, have not taken action against a man who slapped and kicked her five-year-old son in a neighborhood minimart last Saturday.

What allegedly happened was that her child had been out with the family’s domestic helper at the convenience store at Block 182A Rivervale Crescent, when a stranger suddenly used his knee to shove the boy from behind. If that wasn’t enough, the seemingly upset man berated the child before slapping him. You can see it happening on the CCTV footage below:

The main complaint of Chan’s post, however, was that police officers didn’t immediately arrest the man, even though she and her husband readily provided footage and the whereabouts of the attacker.

“…thanks to the inefficient, unresponsive, unreliable, disappointing Sengkang (Neighbourhood Police Post) and the assigned (Investigating Officer), the attacker is still happily at home and loitering in the vicinity and looking for the next prey,” she wrote.

Further investigations by the boy’s parents uncovered the man’s address, but even then, the cops paid a visit to his house without making an arrest.

From Chan’s post, it seems that they’ve been busy pushing the police to take solid action against the man. But repeated calls and requests to the police hotline, police centers, and even the Investigation Officer in charge have yet to result in a satisfactory effort for the upset parents.

“As a parent residing in Spore, I’m really worried, is this really the only way (to wait) and is this the protection we are getting from the useless lame SPF! I hope by putting this in the media, someone could shed some enlightenment.”

Most netizens who chimed in at the comments section sided with the parents, and echoed (dangerously biased) sentiments that the police aren’t doing their jobs.

Some who were familiar with the attacker noted that he has quite an aggressive tendency.

Others claimed that the police can’t arrest someone over a slap.