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SINGAPORE: A woman has been accused of abusing her two step-children, in a case which saw the High Court sentence her husband to 34½ years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane over the death of his biological daughter.
The 34-year-old woman was handed multiple charges on Tuesday (Jan 7) including four counts of ill-treating a child.
She is said to have barricaded the children in the corner of a room, measuring around 90cm by 90cm, from February to October 2016.
The children were allegedly let out only for meals and baths.
The siblings were also confined naked in a bathroom from October 2016 to August 2017. They were between two and five years old at the time.
The woman, who allegedly committed the offences with her husband, had indicated that she will plead guilty at the next hearing on Feb 4.
Although the couple cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy who survived, a High Court judge lifted the gag order in relation to his older sister so that society may remember the girl.
Ayeesha was only five when she died from head injury in 2017. Her brother was only four then.
The children’s biological father, who had martial arts training, abused her for two years, leaving her malnourished.
She also carried multiple scars, marks and external injuries.
The man had Ayeesha and her brother from his previous marriage. He went on to have three more children with his second wife.
In earlier proceedings, the court heard that the man started ill-treating Ayeesha and her brother in 2015, the same year he married his second wife.
He underfed the siblings, causing them to be so hungry that they ate their own faeces and the stuffing of a mattress.
Days before her body gave up, the man subjected the children to physical abuse.
He slapped Ayeesha 15 to 20 times on her face, and the next day on Aug 11, 2017, punched the siblings on their backs.
He also kicked and stamped on his daughter at about 3am, only to find out later that evening that she was not responsive.
In the early hours of Aug 12, 2017, he got rid of evidence, including footage from CCTV cameras he had installed to monitor them.
He then took his son and Ayeesha, who was already dead, in a pram to the Singapore General Hospital. After doctors confirmed she was dead, the man lied to the police and claimed his daughter had hit her head on a slide at a playground.
It was only when he was confronted with footage from police surveillance cameras contradicting his story that he admitted to these lies.
The man was initially charged with murder, but this was later reduced to that of culpable homicide.
In April 2024, he was sentenced to 34½ years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane, after he pleaded guilty to one count of culpable homicide for the girl’s death, four charges of child abuse, and one charge of disposing of evidence.
Another 20 charges, for child abuse and for lying to the police, were considered during his sentencing.
In May 2024, the father was medically certified to be permanently unfit for caning, on account of his degenerative disc disease and a disc compression.
He was then ordered to serve six more months’ jail in lieu of caning. - The Straits Times/ANN
