A pre-school teacher was at work when she saw that one of her colleagues had pushed a table close to a wall to trap a one-year-old girl.
When the Chinese national, 29, spotted the toddler moving under the table, she pointed at the child and alerted the colleague, 30, who was also a pre-school teacher at the time.
Court documents stated that when the girl got to her feet, the older woman, who is a Singaporean, shoved the table, which hit the torso of the victim, who started crying.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ariel Tan told the court that the older woman also used a piece of plastic to hit the child's head, but her colleague did not intervene when she witnessed these acts of abuse.
The younger woman, who was later suspended from her duties before she was re-deployed to an administrative role, pleaded guilty on April 10 to permitting the toddler's ill-treatment and failing to take steps to protect the child.
The Singaporean woman is expected to plead guilty in May. The parties involved in this case cannot be named as there is a gag order on the witnesses, including the older woman.
DPP Tan said that the two women were jointly in charge of looking after a playgroup class of children, including the victim, who was a few months shy of her second birthday at the time of the incident on June 27, 2022.
The Chinese national had entered the girl's classroom at around 10.45am that day and sat facing a table.
The DPP said: "At this time, the victim was trapped with her back against the wall behind a chair and the said table. (The Singaporean) had pushed the table close to the wall in order to trap the victim.
"At or around 10.47am, the accused spotted the victim moving under the table, beneath some blue plastic dividers. Upon seeing this, she pointed at the victim and alerted (her Singaporean colleague)."
The prosecutor added that the older woman then shoved the child under the table and pushed it back against the wall.
She also repeatedly shoved the table against the wall to prevent the toddler from escaping, the court heard.
The prosecutor told the court that at 10.48am, the older woman shoved the table once more as the victim got to her feet, and it struck the toddler's torso.
DPP Tan added: "At 10.49am, (the Singaporean) stood over the table and the victim with a blue plastic divider in hand while scolding the victim. The victim was crying at this moment.
"The victim remained trapped under the table for the next few minutes. At 10.56am, (the Singaporean) once again bent over the table with a blue plastic divider in hand. (She) hit the crown of the victim's head with the plastic divider."
The younger woman did not intervene to protect the child and a nearby CCTV camera captured these acts of abuse.
She also did not report the incident to her superiors and failed to attend to the victim to check for any injuries she could have sustained.
When the victim went home, her mother spotted bruises on the child's face and sent a message to an online platform called "Little Lives" at around 9pm that day.
In the message, the woman asked if something had happened to her daughter at the pre-school, but received no reply.
DPP Tan said that the Chinese national could not view the message as the pre-school's centre principal had not assigned her to address the query.
The next day, the victim's parents took their daughter to the pre-school and asked the Chinese national about the cause of the bruises.
She then replied that she would check with the other teachers.
When the toddler's parents left the premises, the woman phoned a senior teacher at the pre-school and told her about her exchange with the couple.
She also told the senior teacher that she suspected the older woman had caused the victim's bruises.
The senior teacher then told the principal about her conversation with the Chinese national.
At around 12.30pm, the Singaporean replied to the mother's inquiry on the Little Lives platform, stating that nothing had happened to the victim.
The Chinese national was called into the principal's office about two hours later, said the DPP.
She then told the principal that the older woman might have hit the victim the day before. The Chinese national also asked the principal to check the CCTV footage.
The police were alerted following an investigation and the younger woman was suspended from her duties until July 27, 2022, before she was re-deployed to an administrative role.
Her mitigation and sentencing will take place on April 14.
