SINGAPORE — First, she said that an unknown man had slapped the 15-month-old boy she was babysitting, leaving a red mark on the baby’s face.

But less than three hours after making that statement to police officers, the woman changed her tune — this time, she said that the baby had fallen from the bed.

None of these were true, because it was the woman herself who had laid hands on the baby because he was refusing to take his medication.

On Thursday (March 21), the 41-year-old woman — who cannot be named to protect the baby’s identity — was jailed six weeks, after she pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to the infant, and another count of providing false information to police officers.

A third charge of providing false information to police officers was taken into consideration by District Judge John Ng during sentencing.

The court heard that the woman had been the infant’s babysitter since November 2017. The infant’s father would send his son to the woman’s house in the morning and pick him up at the end of the day.

On Jan 24 last year, the infant was suffering from a cough and had to take medication. The woman wanted to feed him medicine with a syringe, but he began crying. The woman got angry and slapped his face.

The baby stopped crying and took his medication.

The slap, however, caused abrasions on his face, as well as redness of the skin around his left eye.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Pavithra Ramkumar said: “To absolve herself from blame, (she) decided to lodge a police report about the (baby’s) facial injuries, allegedly caused by an unknown man slapping his face.” 

She went to the police station that afternoon and gave a statement to a police officer, claiming that she was with her foster daughter and the baby boy was in a stroller when an unknown man came by.

The woman said that she was speaking with her foster daughter when she heard “the sound of something being slapped” and then saw the unknown man running past.

She then discovered the red mark on the baby’s face, she added.

Later, she admitted that she made a false report, but went on to cook up another story instead, saying that the baby sustained the facial injuries after falling off the bed.

It was only six months after the incident that she admitted to slapping the baby, the court heard.

For voluntarily causing hurt, the woman could have been jailed up to two years, and/or fined up to S$5,000.

For providing false information to police officers, she could have been jailed up to one years, and/or fined up to S$5,000.