After having an argument with his estranged wife, a 40-year-old Singaporean man had allegedly made his 11-year-old daughter take sleeping pills and instructed her to lie to the police that she had taken it voluntarily to commit suicide.
It was revealed that the man wanted to show his wife that their daughter had “suffered stress” due to their marital disputes and his wife “was at fault for not taking proper care of their child”, The Straits Times reported.
The 40-year-old man pleaded guilty in court on Wednesday (11 November) to one charge each of perverting the course of justice, ill-treating a child and using abusive words on a police officer in an unrelated incident, with another three charges will be taken into consideration by the judge for sentencing.
According to the court, due to ongoing marital disputes, the accused was estranged from his wife, but stayed with his mother, his 11-year-old daughter and his nine-year-old son.
On 7 April 2018, the daughter sent a text message to her mother, asking her mother to bring her to the doctor as she felt unwell.
The mother asked her daughter to take a taxi to her flat instead as she did not want to see the accused, but the daughter did not do so and decided to stay at home.
The accused then called his wife that evening and both of them quarrelled over the phone.
Accused wanted to show the victim’s mother that their marital disputes had caused the victim to suffer stress and consume pills
At around midnight of 8 April, the accused told his daughter to take a bottle of sleeping pills into his bedroom and made her ingest around six of the pills before asking her to wait for him at the playground outside.
While at the playground, the daughter was asked to swallow several more pills after the accused told her that he wanted to show her mother that their marital disputes had caused the girl to suffer stress.
The accused then took a taxi with his daughter — who lost consciousness after consuming the pills — and his son to his wife’s flat.
Whilst in the taxi, he called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and told them that his daughter had consumed sleeping pills and attempted to jump. He also gave SCDF his wife’s residential address.
When they reached his wife’s residence at about 3.45 am, the accused asked his son to knock on the door to call for the boy’s mother.
The wife was shocked to see her daughter lying on the floor when she opened the door.
The accused then shouted at his wife: “If anything happens to our daughter, you have to take responsibility for it.”
Shortly after, the ambulance arrived and rushed the daughter to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. The victim was later warded for five weeks and was discharged on 17 May.
Accused instructed the victim to lie to the police
When the accused visited the victim in the hospital, he instructed her to lie to the police that she took the pills voluntarily with the intention of committing suicide.
The accused was also present beside her at the time the police officer recorded the victim’s statement on 18 April.
According to the police officer, the victim’s statement said that she had consumed the pills voluntarily because she felt that no one in her family cared for her and that she had intended to commit suicide.
She also said that she was apologetic for her actions and for troubling so many people.
Four months after the incident, the victim revealed the truth to the social worker, which led to police investigations into the accused.
Verbally abusive to police officers when being asked for NRIC
The accused was allegedly previously involved in a separate incident whereby he was verbally abusive to police officers at Changi Beach Park on 2 January last year.
The accused allegedly shouted at the officers using vulgar language before shouting his number out loud after being asked for his NRIC.
Due to a gag order to protect the identity of the victim, none of the parties can be named, including the defendant. The case is adjourned to 9 December.