Teen gets jail for pouring hot water on housemate

Teen gets jail for pouring hot water on housemate

A teenage girl was sentenced to three months and a week in jail yesterday for pouring hot water over her flatmate for not doing household chores to her satisfaction.

Her victim was left with first-degree burns on her shoulders and back.

On three occasions, Chinese national Long Yan, then aged 16, also ordered her same-aged compatriot to strip naked. She snapped pictures of her and threatened to circulate them.

The victim was so traumatised that she returned to China after making a police report, the prosecution said.

Long, now 17, pleaded guilty to hurting her flatmate and two charges of intimidating her. One other count of intimidation was taken into consideration.

She is appealing the sentence.

Both girls were classmates at a private school here.

On June 7, 2013, they were alone at their Toh Tuck Road flat as five other housemates had returned home to China.

The victim was doing chores such as sweeping and mopping the floor.

Unhappy with the work she had done, Long scolded her verbally and hit her with her mobile phone. She then told the girl to boil some water.

The victim did as she was told, and Long took the kettle and poured the boiling water over her.

On June 5, 6 and 7, Long also took nude photographs of her and threatened to circulate them.

District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan had called for a pre-sentence report on Dec 22 to assess Long's suitability for probation, because of her age.

But Long was found to be unsuitable, as she is not a resident in Singapore, and does not live with her guardian.

Long's lawyer said that because of the case, her school had terminated her student pass.

Long has also had to remain in Singapore since the incident.

For voluntarily causing hurt with a heated substance, Long could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.

She could have been jailed for up to two years and fined for each of two counts proceeded with of criminal intimidation.


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