A 44-year-old man has been jailed for 34-and-a-half years for the murder of his five-year-old daughter. The sentencing, which took place on Tuesday, also includes 12 strokes of the cane.
The deceased was identified as Ayeesha. As per reports, she died in 2017 after her father repeatedly hit her in the face. As per CNA, the father would lock the girl and her brother inside the toilet. While reading the sentence, Justice Aedit Abdullah termed the treatment from the father as “inhumane, disgusting abuse”. The judge said that the lengthy punishment, which is unprecedented, had to reflect the “abhorrence and disgust of the community”.
The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to six charges — one charge of culpable homicide, four charges of child abuse and one charge of disposing evidence. Meanwhile, the prosecution will be reviewing the case against Ayeesha’s stepmother, who has been termed as a co-accused, for keeping the siblings locked inside the toilet.
The father worked as a security officer for various companies between 2003 to 2016. Following that stint, he worked in a fast-food restaurant, till 2017, before becoming unemployed.
Reports also accused the man of colluding with his wife and reducing the meals of their children to twice a day, to get them through a period of financial crisis. “Ayeesha and her brother started playing with and eating their own faeces because they were hungry, and they lost weight,” the CNA report read.
Why is the sentence unprecedented?
In Singapore, the punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, is either jail for life, or be jailed for up to 20 years with a fine and caning.
Ill-treatment of a child is a punishable offence too, carrying the maximum jail-term of four years, or a fine of SGD 4,000, or both.