Man admits slapping 6-year-old boy who kicked styrofoam wall, causing his daughter to fall

SINGAPORE – Unhappy with a six-year-old stranger who had caused his daughter to fall, a man slapped the boy’s face once, bruising it.

For about a week following his ordeal, the boy was observed to be noticeably quieter, and he also experienced occasional nightmares.

The bruise he sustained subsided several days after his assault and his behaviour has since returned to normal, the court heard.

On Aug 20, his assailant pleaded guilty to an assault charge.

The 39-year-old Singaporean man cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, who was around three years old at the time of the incident and referred to in court documents as X1.

Individuals below 18 years old are protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.

The court heard that the man, his wife and their three daughters had gone to an indoor playground at Westgate shopping mall in Gateway Drive, near Boon Lay Way, on Dec 22, 2024.

At around 2.30pm, he saw the boy kick a wall made of multicoloured styrofoam building blocks while at least one of his daughters was standing near to it.

At least one of the building blocks then fell on the floor, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Joelle Loy.

The prosecutor added: “Shortly thereafter... X1... walked towards the said wall and stood there. A few seconds later, the victim ran towards the wall and kicked it while X1 was behind it. This caused X1 to fall on the floor.

“The victim had kicked the said wall despite knowing that X1 was standing behind it as he believed that X1 had destroyed the styrofoam wall that he had built earlier.”

Even though more than 20 other people, both adults and children, were in the vicinity, the man brazenly approached the boy and forcefully slapped his right cheek once, causing a bruise, said DPP Loy.

The man asked the boy where his parents were, and the child led him to his mother, who was sitting nearby.

The man told the woman what her son had done but did not disclose that he had slapped the boy.

The mother made her son apologise to the offender, who told her off for not keeping an eye on the boy.

She did not respond to the man’s angry words and he left the playground soon after.

A witness later told the woman’s friend, who was also in the vicinity, that the offender had slapped the boy.

After finding out about the assault, the mother left the playground to look for the man and later saw him with his family.

“(The mother) then approached the victim to check if it was the accused who had hit him. (The boy) confirmed this while crying,” said the prosecutor.

The mother alerted the police and the assailant was arrested at around 4pm that day.

On Aug 20, DPP Loy urged the court to sentence the man to between six and seven weeks’ jail, adding: “While understandably upset by the victim’s behaviour towards his daughter, the accused’s forceful slapping of the... victim, who was much smaller, was completely unwarranted and inexcusable.”

The man will be sentenced in September.