SINGAPORE, Aug 30 — A former preschool teacher was charged in court today with ill-treating a child, after videos of her allegedly rough-handling and hitting children at a Kinderland outlet in Woodlands went viral.
Lin Min, 33, who had been arrested on Tuesday evening, appeared in court via a video link.
Lin faces a single charge under the Children and Young Persons Act for the ill-treatment of a 23-month-old girl on June 30 at Kinderland’s Woodlands Mart preschool.
She allegedly forced the child to lie down and poured water into her mouth.
Lin was arrested within six hours after a police report was lodged about the series of videos that showed her allegedly abusing young children. She has since been dismissed by the preschool.
The videos, which were posted on Facebook, showed Lin treating the children roughly as she tried to get them to drink water.
One video, over four minutes long, showed her placing her hand on a young girl’s face to prevent her from moving as she poured water into the child’s mouth. The girl was lying on the ground crying and struggling.
During court proceedings, a gag order was applied by the prosecution for the victims involved.
Lin’s newly-appointed defence counsel also made an application for a gag order to be applied to her as well on the basis that her name might lead to the identification of the victims involved.
However, District Judge Kow Keng Siong disagreed and rejected the request.
Prosecution then sought for Lin to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for a psychiatric assessment while Lin’s lawyer sought for her to be released on bail.
After the judge granted the prosecution’s request, Lin’s counsel sought a phone call with his client citing the need to sort out administrative matters and the need to pass Lin messages from her sister.
He was not granted the phone call but instead instructed to contact his client after the assessment has been conducted.
Lin is set to return to court on Sept 13. — TODAY
