Mother Who Killed 2-Year-Old Toddler Granted Discharge Not Amounting to Acquittal on Tues (2 Mar)

Mankind can be benevolent, but can also be vile.

Though the bulk of ongoing television shows may indicate that the world is a healthy, happy place, the fact remains that underneath that exuberant exterior…

There lies a layer that makes you wonder just how degraded the world can actually be.

Mother Who Killed 2-Year-Old Toddler Granted Discharge Not Amounting to Acquittal on Tues (2 Mar)

According to TODAYonline, the 32-year-old mother of a toddler, whose remains were found five years after the demise, has been granted a discharge not amounting to acquittal for her murder charge on Tuesday (2 Mar).

The decision was reportedly reached by the prosecution “after reviewing the facts and evidence of the case”.

Lest you’re unaware, this means that the charge can be brought back in the future if new evidence emerges.

As for the woman’s 33-year-old husband, he continues to face the murder charge, and will be executed if convicted.

Both parties cannot be named in order to safeguard the identities of their other children.

Case That Sparked Public Outcry

According to the news report, the man is accused of murdering their daughter, then aged two-and-a-half, in March 2014.

The girl’s body was purportedly burnt, with her remains stored in a metal pot encased within another sealed box.

Situated under their flat’s kitchen stove, the remains were only found five years after the chilling crime in September 2019.

The case shocked the entire nation, and drew the attention of several Members of Parliament (MPs), who questioned whether the death could have been discovered earlier.

Multiple Charges

Aside from the murder charge, both parents are also facing other offences, for which they have been in remand since June 2019.

In fact, the mother is reportedly serving a prison sentence of five years and two months for drug and theft charges at the current moment.

According to the news report, she is now facing 12 case-related charges, and is due to return for a pre-trial conference next month.

Alleged offences on her part are as follows:

• Between 1 June 2013 and March 2014: Mistreating the girl by hitting her and even feeding her chili padi.
• Between March 2013 and March 2014: Ill-treating two other children by hitting them.
• March 2014: Neglecting the girl and depriving her of the necessary medical aid despite there being an emergency, such that she passed away.
• March 2014: “Perverted the course of justice with her husband” by scorching the girl’s body and storing the remains.
• 23 Dec 2017: Fed false information to a liaison officer from the Ministry of Education, stating that the girl had been brought away by her father amid divorce proceedings; because of this, the officer did not follow up on the girl’s Primary 1 registration exercise.
• 8–9 Feb 2018: Mistreated four of her children by leaving them in the flat without adult supervision and without sufficient food and water.
• 9 Feb 2018 and 20 Feb 2018: Fed false information to child protective service officers from the Ministry of Social and Family Development, stating that she had six children (when she actually had seven).

Meanwhile, the father faces three other charges of his own:

• 5 Apr 2018: Rioting
• Jun 2018: Drug abuse
• 13 Feb 2020: Failure to return to a community supervision centre

The Murder

Back in 2019, the police had received a call for assistance at Block 52 Chin Swee Road on 10 September at about 8.30pm.

According to Lianhe Wanbao, the police left the scene with the metal pot, which allegedly contained the burnt remains. It was found in a one-room rental flat on the eighth storey of the block.

Neighbours said that they smelled something strong, with one describing the smell as “something rotting”, at least a week before the body was found.

Some of them believed that the unit had been rented out illegally.

Neighbours also said that a man, who appeared to be in his 30s, moved into the unit four months prior to the discovery, and had been living alone there.

Before that, the flat was occupied by a married couple with young children.

Feature Image: Google Maps