An 11-year-old girl was ill-treated by her stepfather and mother for months, who forced her to eat chilli padi, splashing her with hot water and whipping her with a belt.
The stepfather, who was an auxiliary police officer at the time, started hitting the girl in October 2020 with an exercise bar that he had bought for his workouts at home, according to The Straits Times.
On 6 November 2020, the man used the exercise bar and hit the girl on the head multiple times while the mother didn’t intervene, resulting in the girl dying 4 days later from her injuries.
She displayed signs of bleeding internally but the couple chose not to take her to the hospital, only calling for an ambulance 4 days later on 10 November.
The 28-year-old stepfather pleaded guilty on 27 February to one count of culpable homicide, as well as 4 other charges for the other acts of violence that he committed on the deceased.
His 29-year-old wife pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to protect her daughter from the fatal attack, and two other charges for the other acts of violence that she committed on the deceased.
They are set to be sentenced at a later date, and they can’t be identified due to a court order.
Background
In early 2020, the man got angry at the 11-year-old girl because he thought that she had been stealing items from their home, as well as eating too slowly.
In March of that year, he made the girl stand on a table and hold a 1.5-litre water bottle at her shoulder level, before caning her and hitting her with a belt for 20 to 30 minutes, resulting in bruises on her arms, buttocks, thighs and legs.
The man’s family members saw the girl’s injuries and scolded the man for mistreating the girl, and his wife for not stopping him.
The man also hit the girl with a wooden backscratcher, forced her to eat chilli padi to the point of regurgitation, and hit her with an exercise bar.
The woman also poured hot water on the girl while she was asleep, as well as forcing her to eat chilli padi.
The couple was worried that the injuries that they inflicted on the girl would be discovered when she didn’t attend school from 26 August 2020 to 29 October 2020.
Two representatives from the girl’s school visited their home on 29 September 2020 but the couple refused to let them in.
A student welfare officer from the school, along with an officer from Child Protective Service (CPS) asked them for a video call with the girl on 15 October 2020, and the CPS officer didn’t observe any injury on the girl because she was made to sit at a spot with dim lighting, as well as wearing pyjamas with long sleeves.
On 6 November 2020, the man assaulted the girl with the exercise bar, swinging it at her head and knocking her out, before sprinkling water on her face, reciting prayers and calling her repeatedly, and she eventually responded after 2 minutes.
However, she was bleeding from her right ear and her head was swollen, and the man then started panicking as he knew that she needed medical attention, and he then discussed with his wife on whether to send her to the hospital.
The couple then decided against taking her to the hospital because they didn’t know how to explain the injuries on the girl.
The deceased felt dizzy and vomited on her mattress after the man left for work, and on 7 November, the woman told her husband that the girl was bleeding from her ear but he reportedly told her that “it was nothing”.
The girl had difficulties clenching her right hand, and the man then forced her to get into a push-up position, where she then fell onto the floor.
The man then hit her on the back with the exercise bar.
On 9 November, the girl cried out in pain when her mother massaged her arms, and when the man returned home from work at about 11pm, he saw the deceased in a weak and grim state, before apologising to her.
The next day, the girl blacked out and the woman called her husband at work and told him what happened, and he then told his supervisor about it and was told to call an ambulance.
The couple told doctors at the hospital that she had fallen down the stairs while skateboarding before they eventually admitted to the police about what they did to the victim.
