Father who slapped daughter’s 9-year-old classmate bully sentenced to 2 weeks in jail

Bullying is never okay. But neither is bullying the bully, which is what a 47-year-old man did when he barged into a primary school classroom and slapped a nine-year-old boy for allegedly bullying his daughter.

The father of five had originally pleaded guilty; he was convicted in January and fined $3,500 for his hurtful actions, but prosecutors appealed for a four-week jail term, as they thought the sentence was too lenient. So a High Court judge imposed a two week jail term on the man on Wednesday (Jul 19), TODAY reported.

It was on Oct 7, 2015, that the incident occurred. The daughter was hesitant to go to school, explaining there was a classmate who would often “disturb” her. So her dad took her to school, and he was allowed on school grounds after notifying the security guard that he wanted to talk to the principal. However, he brought his daughter to her third floor classroom instead, and interrupted the class by asking his daughter to point out her bully.

A confrontation ensued, where the man accused the boy of being a bully, while the boy denied the claims. The father then slapped the kid on his left cheek, leaving finger marks on his face, and kept on accusing him. The teacher attempted to stop the assault by shielding the boy behind her, and the father went on to lecture the class on how it was wrong to behave like a gangster.

It’s pretty ironic that the father “self-righteously” berated the class against acting like a bully after he slapped the young boy, who ended up being so traumatized by the whole ordeal that he wet his pants.

In court, the man seemed to show a lack of remorse, claiming the incident would serve as a “life lesson” to the kids. He also went on to blame the school’s lax security for not protecting the students. His “excuses” were criticized by the prosecutors.

High Court Justice See Kee Oon agreed with the fine being “inadequate”, saying that the man “had no business entering the classroom at all, let alone confronting the boy in front of the entire class and their teacher.”

“What is especially aggravating is [the man’s] deplorable violation of the sanctity of the school environment and the distress and disquiet caused to the children and their teacher,” he added.

The man pleaded against the jail sentence, saying he had to help his wife at their hawker stall. He also claimed to be remorseful, as evidenced by his apology and a compensation offer of $6.80 he gave to the boy’s father. The offered compensation, as reported by Channel NewsAsia, would be hard to see as anything other than an insult.

But those were rejected, and Justice See called his claims of remorse “self-serving”.

“His ostensible remorse manifested itself only after he was charged in court … his email apology to the school and the victim, along with the offer of compensation, only came in January 2017, after he was convicted,” Justice See stated. “Quite clearly, (his) efforts were self-serving and insincere … in the hope of earning himself credit for a lighter sentence.”

The man will start his jail term on Aug 10, and the fine he paid will be refunded, said The Straits Times. As for the now 10-year-old boy, who is no longer at the school, he revealed in a statement that he still suffers nightmares of being slapped.

For voluntarily causing hurt, the man could have been sentenced to a maximum of two years in jail and/or fined up to $5,000.



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