This man is often seen at the gate of this Bukit Batok unit trying to play with his children from the outside. He's not allowed into the house to play with his children, or take them out to play as his ex-wife forbids him from doing so, says STOMPer Kris.

In an email to STOMP yesterday (Jul 20), the STOMPer says:

"I was curious as to why this man is always standing at the gate of my tuition student at an apartment block in Bukit Batok every Thurs evening and Sat morning either playing with 3 small children or being scolded by 2 ladies from the unit. One of them was holding a camera filming the whole process.

"Sometimes, police would turn up and leave.

"One day, I decided to walk to him and ask why.

"This well spoken man told me his story:

'I am divorced from my wife and since then, my three children were under her care and control.

'Court order says I can see my children every Thurs 6pm to 830pm and Saturday 9am to 1.30pm but every time I turn up, my ex-wife refuses to let me bring my children out.

'She would lock me outside the house and sometimes she's 'kind' enough to open the door but lock the gate and let my children play with me.

'My children misses me but they say that mummy doesn't allow them to go out with me.

'I tried to call the police because court order states that it is a penal offence if my wife refuses to let me bring my children out. However, when the police arrived, they could not do anything. They only advised me to re-apply to court.

"I called family court, court says seek legal advise and apply accordingly. I did so but was told that I need to queue up for such process as it's tedious.

'Relevant officers attending to my case says it's common for men in Singapore to be treated like this because of the women charter. I divorced my wife because of her unreasonable behaviour.

'Since the divorce, she is even more unreasonable but what can I do? I am helpless.'

"Look at the pictures. This man simply deserves our sympathy."