Operations supervisor and father-of-two Soo Wen Jie, who lashed out at a five-year-old child with autism at an indoor playground in Yishun on April 9 last year, has been sentenced to one week in jail.
A video of the incident, which has made its rounds on social media, was shown in court today.
The footage showed the little boy trying to take a blue plastic shovel that Soo was holding on to, but Soo refused to give it up. The kid made another attempt and when he failed, he became frustrated and hit Soo’s back.
The 29-year-old then tossed the shovel to the side so the child would stop approaching him. When the boy reached out for a hug, Soo pushed him away and the child hit Soo’s back in response. Soo retaliated and swung his right arm backwards, hitting the boy’s abdomen. The victim’s mother heard the commotion and went to the playground, leaving shortly after with her son.
According to CNA, that same night, while the mother of the victim was bathing her son, the latter complained of pain in his upper body. It was then that the mother contacted the playground’s management and asked for CCTV footage of the incident. She made a police report the next day.
TODAY reported that the perpetrator was sentenced to a week in jail by District Judge Ng Peng Hong, who said the offence was committed against a victim who was vulnerable, and that the boy not only suffered physical but also psychological harm. Apart from sustaining injuries in his upper body, the child was also traumatized by the incident and had disturbed sleep and nightmares.
Yahoo News noted that Soo could have other ways of dealing with the situation and did not have to resort to violence. Even though Soo’s lawyer maintained that his client did not know the boy was autistic and that the injuries were “minor,” the prosecutor’s response was to reiterate the child’s young age and vulnerability. Although no serious injury was sustained, a helpless child had been harmed, said Ng.
For voluntarily causing hurt, Soo could have been incarcerated for up to two years, fined up to S$2,000, or both.
