Baby dropped as mum and gran trade blows

Baby dropped as mum and gran trade blows

SINGAPORE - An argument between a woman and her mother over money on Wednesday escalated into a scuffle - and a toddler ended up being dropped onto the floor.

Kelly (not her real name) said her year-old son slipped from her grasp during the scuffle.

He hit his head and was taken by ambulance to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. He was in the observation ward for about two hours before he was discharged.

Kelly, 28, said: "I wanted to protect my son from my mother. I don't trust her to take care of him."

She was released from prison in February after having served eight months of a 17-month sentence for fraud. She was sentenced in June last year.

She is now under home detention at her parents' three-room flat in Hougang and has an electronic tag around her ankle.

Until the tag is removed next month, she can leave the flat only between noon and 3pm each day.

Kelly, whose husband is in jail for loan shark-related offences, accused her mother, Madam Tan, 48, of being an abusive parent.

She said: "I remember when I was about five years old, my mother pinched me along my arm until it was blue and black. She also tried to smother me with a pillow."

She claimed that her mother still physically and verbally abuses her three to four times a week.

"But I'm older now, so I have learnt to fight back," said Kelly, who did not report the abuse to the police.

Madam Tan denied that she had abused her daughter and claimed the latter had always been rebellious.

Kelly said she had just woken up on Wednesday morning when her mother confronted her about being a spendthrift.

She used to be a membership consultant for a fitness centre, but she said she could no longer work because of the home detention and relied on her 53-year-old father, who works in construction, for money.

She said she was carrying her son when her mother tried to hit her.

She pushed Madam Tan away, but claimed that the older woman retaliated.

"She pulled my hair. It was very painful," she said.

"I accidentally dropped my baby and he started crying.

"Before I could pick him up, my mother bit my right thumb."

She claimed that her mother also bit her on her right forearm.

Madam Tan denied that the fight came about because she had confronted her daughter over money.

Giving her version of events, she said Kelly had asked her for $40 for taxi fare to visit the husband in Changi Prison.

But Madam Tan could spare only $10 as she is not working.

The former childcare worker said: "I told her I couldn't give her the money till later. But she got angry and we started quarrelling.

"She asks me for money all the time and gets angry if she doesn't get her way."

Madam Tan said they then got into a scuffle.

"We were using our hands to hit each other when she accidentally dropped my grandson. He got a bump on his head," said Madam Tan.

This article by The New Paper was published in MyPaper, a free, bilingual newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.


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