Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

A 43-year-old man in Singapore is facing a capital charge, among others, for allegedly murdering his five-year-old daughter.

Facing 26 charges

According to court documents, the man is facing a total of 26 charges.

The man cannot be identified as there is a court-issued gag order prohibiting the publication of any information that will lead to the identification of his surviving son.

Allegedly murdered and ill-treated daughter

The man is facing 10 charges for ill-treating his daughter from when she was three years old to her death at the age of five.

The alleged abuse took place from December 2015 to August 2017.

Of these 10 charges, he is facing eight charges for a range of physically abusive behaviour directed towards his daughter. He is accused of allegedly punching, slapping, kicking and repeatedly caning her, grabbing her by her hair to stand up, lifting her up against a wall by her neck, and pointing a pair of scissors at her.

The two other ill-treatment charges are related to confinement, where he allegedly barricaded his daughter when she was three years old in the corner of a room with limited space for movement, and confined her naked in the toilet when she was five years old from October 2016 and Aug. 11, 2017 respectively.

The man allegedly committed the confinement offences with his wife, who was not named and has yet to be charged.

He is also facing a capital charge.

On the day when the girl was confined in the toilet, the man allegedly murdered his daughter from sometime around 9pm on Aug. 11, 2017 to the early hours of Aug. 12, 2017.

Court documents did not state how the death occurred.

Allegedly disposed evidence and provided false information

The man also allegedly disposed of a camera, a mobile phone, a pair of scissors, a cane, a rubber hose, bath towels and a child safety gate on the morning of Aug. 12, 2017.

He allegedly knew that he had committed murder, an offence that is punishable with death, and made the evidence disappear to protect himself from legal punishment.

He is facing a charge for this.

From Aug. 12, 2017 to Aug. 17, 2017, he told the authorities in five separate statements that his daughter passed away because she had hit her head on a slide on Aug. 11, 2017.

He also allegedly claimed to have spent the whole Aug. 11, 2017 night away from his house with his daughter and son.

For these offences, he is facing five charges of allegedly providing false information to a public servant.

Allegedly ill-treated and confined son

The man is also facing nine charges for ill-treating his surviving son, while he was aged between two and four years, from December 2015 to August 2017.

Court details alleged that he also punched, slapped, kicked and repeatedly caned his son.

The man and his wife also allegedly barricaded their son when he was two years old in the corner of a room with limited space for movement, and confined him naked in the toilet when he was four years old from October 2016 and Aug. 11, 2017.

To go to trial for murder

The man will go to trial for his capital charge in July 2023.

His case was mentioned in the High Court on May 15, 2023 as prosecutors called for seven of the other charges to be included in his upcoming murder trial.

This includes the charge for confining the deceased in the toilet as well as the six charges that were carried out after the alleged murder.

The prosecutor argued that the murder charge and the confinement charge overlap in time and involve the same location.

The prosecutor also argued that the man committed the post-murder offences in the immediate days after the girl’s death with the intention to shield himself from a possible homicide charge.

The man, who is represented by Mervyn Cheong from Advocatus Law LLP, said it was prejudicial for his client to have to defend himself against additional charges that carry a less severe outcome compared to a murder charge, The Straits Times reported.

The case will be mentioned once more on May 19, 2023.

Top image from Google Maps