Last Updated on 2023-08-22 , 12:26 pm
Singapore was previously shocked by the news of a father cold-heartedly killing two of his own biological sons as they were autistic.
Now, the case is coming to a close as the father is getting his just desserts for harming his children.
During the investigations and in court, the father revealed some of his motivations behind the twin killings.
It turns out that he wanted to do it to lessen his wife’s “burdens” so that his children would not be neglected when he and his wife passed on.
The father was eventually sentenced to 14 years in jail for his crimes.
Here is what happened.
Father Killed His Two Autistic Sons to Take Away Wife’s “Burdens”
In 2022, Mr Xavier Yap Jung Houn killed his twin 11-year-old sons in a Bukit Timah canal.
Their names were Aston Yap Kai Shern and Ethan Yap E Chern.
Both sons were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in 2017 and had started mainstream primary school.
While it may be unfathomable to most people how a parent can kill their own child, Mr Yap had his “reasons” for doing the deed.
According to Mr Yap, he believed that the double killings would take away his wife’s burdens.
As the two children were diagnosed to be on the autistic spectrum, his wife and their helper would accompany each child to school every day.
When the mother was not free to accompany one child to school, either of the boys would have to skip classes for the day as the family’s helper could only take one boy to school.
This undeniably put some burden on his wife, especially since both children were still non-verbal by the time they were enrolled into mainstream primary school.
Mr Yap also mentioned that he was worried about the two boys not having anyone to take care of them once his wife and himself were no longer around.
It was also possible that the twins would be bullied if Mr Yap and his wife were no longer around to take care of the children.
Father Was Sentenced to 14 Years of Jail
Whether Mr Yap had good intentions behind killing his twin sons, the fact remains that he had to be punished for causing their deaths.
Mr Yap was sentenced to imprisonment for 14 years for his acts against his sons.
The court heard that Mr Yap was nice to his sons and would bring them out to play or buy them things.
He also did not use physical force against his sons.
In coming to the sentence of 14 years, the court also took into consideration Mr Yap’s mental condition at the time he committed the crimes.
Mr Yap was suffering from major depressive disorder when he killed his two sons, which may have affected his judgment in what to do with his sons.
The sentence of 14 years lies on the lower end of what the prosecution sought (being 14 to 20 years of imprisonment) but is much higher than the sentence sought by Mr Yap’s defence counsel.
His counsel had sought a five-year jail term for each charge of killing his sons with two sentences to run concurrently (so it would essentially be a five-year jail term).
Mr Yap had been sentenced on account of two charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Culpable homicide not amounting to murder is a lower charge than murder, with the highest punishment for the former being life imprisonment and not the death penalty.
He Initially Wanted to Be Sentenced to Death but Changed His Mind
In a somewhat bizarre turn of events, Mr Yap appears to have changed his mind about what he wanted to do with his life.
When Mr Yap plotted to kill his twins, he included killing himself in the plan.
After strangling and submerging each twin’s head in water, Mr Yap turned the violence onto himself and tried to stab himself with an ice pick in his stomach, chest and back.
He also hit his head with a tree branch and rock in some unsuccessful attempts at suicide.
With the inability to take his life using physical force, Mr Yap then devised a plan to lie to the police about the death of his sons to paint a picture of no remorse, which he hoped would land him the death sentence.
However, while in prison, Mr Yap changed his mind about wanting to kill himself. He instead sought to continue living.
Instead of seeking the death penalty, Mr Yap decided to spill the beans about his wife’s alleged infidelity, which Mr Yap’s mother claimed added to Mr Yap’s depression.
His wife was previously married and had a daughter from the previous marriage.
Mothership reported that Mr Yap had his lawyer read out a letter in court.
In the letter, Mr Yap said that the turning point was when his wife invited “her lover” to stay at their house while Mr Yap was in prison.
She also allegedly threw their deceased sons’ belongings away, not showing any sadness over their deaths.
Mr Yap also said he could “no longer tolerate” this, so he decided to “reveal everything”.
He also resolved to “bravely live” for his mother, who was in court to support Mr Yap and had often played with the twins while they were alive.
Being a tragedy from start to end, it is indeed saddening that such incidents happen in today’s society.
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