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THE little two-year-old girl is nobody's child.
Her mother, an Indonesian who comes here on social visit passes, was unable to stay for long to care for her.
Her father is an odd-job labourer who had no time for her.
So the toddler ended up with her godparents.
But after the couple had a fight, the godmother dumped the girl with her friend. The friend was ill and could not take care of the girl, who ended up being abused by the woman's husband.
Yesterday, the 53-year-old former auxiliary officer was jailed for 15 months after he pleaded guilty to two charges of ill-treating the girl. A similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.
The man cannot be named as there is a court order to protect the victim's identity.
He said he had bitten and slapped the girl because she irritated him and disturbed his sleep.
District Judge Sargit Singh dismissed his claims, saying that the reasons given were "pretty lame"and he could not accept them.
He also said that the girl's injuries were serious.
The sad story of how the girl ended up being passed from one family to another was revealed in court.
The girl's father, 51, works for most of the day while her mother cannot stay here permanently. So the toddler was left under the care of her godparents.
In December 2009, the godparents had a domestic dispute and the wife moved out, taking the girl with her.
On Dec 5, she took the girl to her close friend's flat and left her under the care of the friend and her husband.
However, the friend, a 47-year-old Indonesian, was unable to take care of the girl because of her ill health. She died in Batam from heart failure in May last year. The couple do not have any children.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao told the court that sometime between late December 2009 and early January last year, the man was at home with the girl.
She could not sleep and kept pushing him. Irritated that she was preventing him from sleeping, he bit her on her left thigh.
Around the same period, the man also bit her on her right thigh and left side of the face.
Then one night in early January last year, the man was irritated with the girl again after she kept dropping her milk bottle on the floor.
He slapped her four to five times. Later that night, he bit her neck when she disturbed his sleep.
On Jan 6 last year, at about 5pm, the girl's godfather went to visit her at the man's flat.
While carrying her, he discovered bruises on the girl's neck and bite marks on both her thighs.
After he left the flat, he called the girl's father to inform him.
At about 7pm that day, the godfather returned to the flat with the girl's father.
They then took the girl to KK Women's and Children's Hospital, where they were told by the doctor that she had been abused.
The godfather subsequently lodged a police report.
The girl's medical report showed that her injuries included multiple bite marks on her thighs and neck and a bruise on her left leg.
It was not mentioned in court where the man's wife was when the abuses took place.
It was also not mentioned who is taking care of the girl now.
The man's lawyer, Mr S S Dhillon, told the court that his client had snapped, and had bitten the girl because she woke him with her incessant crying.
Despite his efforts to quieten her, the girl had continued crying.
Mr Dhillon added that she stopped doing so after the man bit and slapped her.
He said that this was not a classic case of child abuse, but one of "child chastisement gone awry".
He said that after the man was charged, he resigned from his job.
The man married his Indonesian wife in 2005. Two years later, he had to have a toe amputated due to diabetes.
For ill-treating a child under the Children and Young Persons Act, the man could have been jailed for four years and fined $4,000 for each charge.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
