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A 35-year-old woman who had untreated schizophrenia pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Sep. 20) to murdering her eight-year-old daughter by stabbing her to death last year.

The Singaporean woman, who is now 36, was acquitted of the murder charge however, as it was found that she was of unsound mind at the time of the offence, CNA reported.

Woman heard voices telling her to kill daughter

The court heard that the woman had been hearing voices which told her that her eldest daughter was an evil spirit who needed to be killed.

On Aug. 10, 2021, the woman heard the voices again while she was in a room with both her daughters in a residential unit at Geylang Lorong 31, according to The Straits Times.

She then stabbed her eight-year-old daughter a dozen times in her neck, torso, face, arms and hands, while her other four-year-old daughter looked on, Today reported.

She only stopped when the voices told her to.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Teo Lu Jia told the court that the voices then instructed the woman to take off all her clothes and kill herself, according to CNA.

The woman's brother then entered the room.

The woman cannot be named to protect the other daughter's identity.

Will be kept in custody for "indefinite period of time"

A psychiatrist's assessment of the woman revealed that she was "severely psychotic" at the time of the offence, and was completely out of touch with reality that she could not distinguish what was wrong or right.

The prosecutors applied for the woman to be acquitted of the murder charge as she was of unsound mind at the time of the offence.

The judge ordered that the woman be kept in safe custody in prison and that the case be reported to the minister.

The minister can then order the woman to be confined in a psychiatric institution, prison, or other suitable places "for an indefinite period of the time" at the president's discretion.

The court heard that the woman is currently at high risk of self-harm and requires long-term supervision and psychiatric care.

Second daughter was hiding behind door

On the day of the murder, the woman was in her room with her two daughters. Her brother and his wife, as well as her niece and nephew were in the apartment too, while the woman's parents were working in their coffee shop.

The woman's niece was having breakfast when she heard the woman speaking incoherently in Mandarin, and mentioned the names of Chinese historical figures, Today and CNA reported.

The niece informed her mother of what she heard, but her mother dismissed the claims. The niece then returned to her breakfast.

She then heard cries coming from the woman's room, and decided to start a recording in the event that the woman wanted to seek medical help in the future.

The woman's brother decided to check on the woman, and saw the eight-year-old girl lying motionless on the floor amid a pool of blood.

The woman was naked and holding a pair of scissors.

He shouted for the family to call the police. He also saw a blood-stained knife on the floor, and quickly threw it out of the room before shutting the door.

He took pillows to protect himself and entered the room again.

The woman was waving the pair of scissors at him.

He saw that the younger daughter was hiding behind the door, and grabbed her out of the room and hid in another bedroom with the rest of his family while they waited for the police and his parents to come.

When the police and paramedics arrived, the woman was still holding on to the pair of scissors.

The woman was then clothed and arrested, after the officers assessed that she no longer posed an immediate danger.

The victim was conveyed to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. Despite resuscitation efforts, the girl was pronounced dead. She had suffered 64 penetrating injuries.

The cause of her death was stab wounds to the neck and torso.

Schizophrenia went untreated for years

The court heard that the woman had schizophrenia that went untreated for years, and that her condition worsened over time.

The woman had started hearing voices in March 2021. At that point, the voices were soft and infrequent, and gradually became louder and more distressing as time went by.

The voices would tell her that her food, water and family's cooking were poisoned. They also told her to harm herself and her family. The voices specifically said that her eldest daughter was an evil spirit who had to be killed.

Her family also noticed that she had been acting strangely since 2018. They said that she was often paranoid, and thought that people were stalking her, or that her family was poisoning her.

Woman behaved erratically in days before murder

In the two days leading up to the murder, the woman was also captured behaving erratically at MRT stations.

CCTV footage revealed that she had entered Aljunied MRT station to take the train to Somerset. She left the station but re-entered after a few minutes. She then tapped out of the gantry and left the station once again.

She then took a train to Tanjong Pagar MRT station, and again entered and re-entered the station after a few minutes.

The woman had apparently behaved this way as she was following instructions from a voice.

On the day before the murder, the woman was seen with her younger daughter at Aljunied MRT station.

They tailgated a commuter through the gantry and took a train to Tampines MRT, where she tailgated another commuter to exit the station.

She then wandered around Tampines aimlessly for hours, and sat on the floor in the foyer of Tampines Mall with her daughter for about half an hour.

The woman said she was instructed by voices to look for an apartment with the unit number "#05-01" in Tampines.

The voices also told her not to take her older daughter with her. The woman left the daughter behind at Aljunied MRT and told her to leave them. The girl then went to her grandparents who were working at a nearby coffee shop.

Investigations revealed that the murder was the first psychotic episode the woman experienced.

Her defence lawyers, who agreed with the prosecution that she should be acquitted, said that "a young innocent life was lost" and that they hoped the woman would have a speedy recovery so she can one day be reunited with her elderly parents and her remaining daughter.

Top photo via Matthias Ang