Child Abuse?

[<daydreamer>]

Hi, I'm from Singapore. I have a few questions to ask, about abuse and the legal terms of abuse.

This is regarding child abuse that happened to my boyfriend. He came from a broken family, where his father was (and still is) a courier man and his stepmother a clerk. He was subject to abuse from both parents, but more so from his stepmother. When I met him, he was open enough to tell me the extent of the abuse.

From the age of 7 to 15, he was subject to (in his own words):

1. Near daily caning of my arms and legs with a rattan cane about 1cm in diameter, 1m in length. Occasionally, a 'feather duster' is used, measuing 0.7m, 2cm diameter.
Cause: Perceived misbehavior by stepmother, assuming that schools must have excessive amounts of homework daily (e.g, at least 4 pages, from several different subjects, in elementary school).
Injury: Cane marks and scars all over arms and legs, with the warning "Your teachers and classmates will laugh at you for being such a naughty/lazy/misbehaving kid"

2. Pinching of ears/cheeks/arms with long/sharp fingernails.
Cause: Same as above.
Injury: Red marks/scars along ears/cheeks/arms, occasional bleeding. Sometimes, if I had to meet family members later, was instructed by stepmother to claim "I hurt myself being naughty" to "save her face".

3. Pouring out (literally) of my packed schoolbag daily, to check for 'illegal items' like undone schoolwork, drugs, toys, non-schoolwork, between the age of 8 and 15. Such 'useless items' were always thrown away, and me beaten afterwards.
Injuries: Getting beaten, confidence crushed (eg, hobbies in origami, crafts were discontinued or done in secret).

4. Insistence of cleanliness. Stepmother had a penchant for keeping the house clean (e.g.After showering, the chrome plated taps had droplets of water on them. Bathroom floor had small puddles of water. Hair in the drain. After getting up from the leather sofa, a slight outline of the body can be seen (due to body heat and condensation). Fingerprints on glass-covered tables.)
All above offences led to beating by hands or cane.
Causes: My inability to keep the house squeaky clean.

5. School teachers noticing cane marks on my body, questions me about the cause.
Result: teacher calls stepmother for clarification, stepmother scolds teacher for 'not teaching properly', I get beaten again when I get home.
Injury: Same as 1.

6. When being beaten, I am often scolded for 'being worthless' or 'absolutely useless', that 'I should not have been born', that 'I am a waste of their time and money', or that 'I am the cause of their troubles and quarrels'. She said that I cause the stepmother and my father to quarrel, for my misbehavior, or poor results in school (I was top in class for 3 years running, and had monetary bursaries every year)
Injury: Myself feeling emotionally drained, thoughts of suicide.

7. Daily allowance of $1 to $1.50 for school, cost of a bowl of noodles: $1.50. Curry puffs: $0.50. Drinks: $0.20. I was quite a big eater, so usually I had to eat more than a bowl of noodles. I couldn't ask my parents for more money, as they would beat me for that.
Result: My grandparents had to secretly visit the school to buy me food.
Injury: Feeling hungry.

8. Stepmother insisting that I played truant daily - to play arcade games the whole day (Arcade tokens cost $0.50, and I only had $1 to $1.50 daily). Calls to the school were replied with surprise, since I was in class and teachers insisted my daily attendance was ok. Stepmother did not believe.
Result: Beaten. Injury: Same as 1, sometimes reduction of daily allowance.

9. After I got beaten by the stepmother (who came home from work earlier), she will complain to my father (who comes home later, usually after overtime) who will wake me up from sleep to punish me again. So its usually twice the punishment for any single 'offence'.

10. No family member other than myself and my parents knew of these, until I ran away when I was 15. Neither of them filed a law suit or took any action against them on my behalf.


There were more examples, but these were what he recalled in a moment. He noted to me that when he entered teen-hood, his parent and stepparent thought that he would be a criminal and the punishments grew more severe and frequent. At the age of 15, he had enough and ran away to live with his grandparents.
Till today, he has no record of any criminal activity, nor would he have deigned to do anything of the like, regardless of his upbringing.

However, the effects have lasted on him. He is quiet, still has a lack of confidence, and he still vividly remembers what his parent and stepparent have done to him. He adds that the parents now have a son and daughter of their own, who are treated normally, or exclusively with decadent toys, and feels embittered about why they were never beaten. They don't know that he is their half-brother as well, as their parents never told them. His parent and stepparent would still tell family members and guests on how they actively and frequently disciplined him and kept him in check.

My question are:
Are the above actions done by the stepmother to my boyfriend considered child abuse?
And can any legal action be taken against the step-mother (and/or father) today, even though the last incidence of this case was 7 years ago?

Thanks for reading this.

-<dd>