Man Arrested for Punching 6-Year-Old Boy Says He Did Not Intend to Injure; Gets 5 Weeks’ Jail

What would you do if your child said that they had been physically struck?

For one Singaporean private-hire driver, his answer turned out to be punching a six-year-old without checking whether he had the right target.

Unsurprisingly, he got into hot water with the law.

Man Arrested for Punching 6-Year-Old Boy He Assumed Hit His Son

On 18 October 2023, 53-year-old Mak Wai Onn and his wife went to pick up his six-year-old son from an enrichment centre.

After picking their son up, Mak’s wife told him that the class teacher said their son had been kicked.

Mak pulled over after his son mentioned his groin hurt. He then claimed to have seen redness in the area after checking and drove back to the centre.

Mak’s wife tried to clarify the situation with the teacher, but neither the teacher nor the alleged groin-kicking classmate could say exactly what happened.

Unhappy, Mak entered the enrichment centre, where he found the victim being picked up by his grandmother.

Mak confronted them and asked the victim if he was the culprit who kicked his son in the groin.

He apparently then decided against checking if he had the right six-year-old to punch by, well, punching the victim in the face before he got an answer.

The blow knocked the six-year-old onto the ground. His head only avoided hitting the ground because his grandmother was holding his hand.

A witness decided to call the police, who arrested Mak.

Thankfully, the victim was not significantly injured. He was nonetheless referred to a child psychiatrist and orthopaedic surgeon.

Mak paid for the victim’s medical treatment of S$440.65 in full.

Man Claimed He “Calibrated His Energies” Before Punching the Boy

In court, Mak represented himself. He pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to a minor.

For his mitigation, Mak acknowledged that he punched a boy while being an adult man, but attributed his action to having lost control of his temper.

Despite that, he also claimed to have “calibrated [his] energies” when throwing the strike.

“My intention is not to knock him out or injure him,” the man said about punching the boy in the face hard enough to knock him over.

Mak told the court that he was specifically furious about targetting “the super vulnerable part” of his son.

He added that his son had gotten into fights growing up but that he wouldn’t be “exceptionally angry” if it was a kick elsewhere on the body.

Mak also said in his statement that he immediately regretted his actions.

However, he claimed that he didn’t get the chance to apologise at the scene as the police separated him and the child he attacked.

Wonder why that happened.

Mak Asked for the Lightest Sentence from Judge

The prosecution sought six to nine weeks’ jail, highlighting that the victim could have been injured worse if his head hit the ground.

Mak also had prior convictions from 1996 and 2002, including criminal trespass and insulting the modesty of a woman.

The unrepresented Mak asked for the “lightest sentence”, saying that he had three children, including a newborn, and his wife would have to take care of them alone while he served time.

Maybe he should have thought of the impact on them when he was calibrating his energies.

In sentencing, the judge pointed out that he attacked the victim without waiting for confirmation on his target.

She also said that he should have found out about the circumstances leading up to the kick to determine if there was more to the story.

Thirdly, the judge said that even if the six-year-old victim did kick his son in the groin, it was inappropriate for Mak to punch him.

On the other hand, the judge noted Mak’s remorse and payment for the victim’s medical bills and so sentenced him to five weeks in jail on 18 July.

In 2021, another adult man punched a 12-year-old for cycling in an area where cycling was allowed.