A 38-year-old Singaporean man forced the tip of a chilli into his four-year-old son's mouth to discipline him for lying about defecating.
The piece of chilli became lodged in the boy's airway, and he choked to death.
The man was sentenced to eight months in jail on May 30 for one count of rash act causing death.
What happened
According to court documents seen by Mothership, the man was at home with his wife and four children on the day of the incident.
At around 1:50pm on Aug. 2, 2022, the man noticed that his son smelled of faeces.
His son was going through toilet training at that time and was supposed to notify his parents if he needed to relieve himself.
The boy denied having relieved himself, and the man decided to discipline his son by making him eat chilli.
He took a chilli from the fridge and broke off a small part of the chilli at the tip.
He approached his son, who was lying on the floor on his back, and forced the tip of the chill past his teeth and into his mouth.
The son then got up and started running around, gesturing at his throat. He then vomited and collapsed.
The man's wife performed the Heimlich manoeuvre on the son, but his condition did not improve.
The man also tried using his fingers to remove any blockages from the boy's mouth but was unsuccessful.
The man then told his wife to call for an ambulance and to check if they could rush the boy to a nearby clinic first.
When the officer manning the emergency hotline said that they could, the man carried his son in his arms to a nearby family clinic.
The doctor saw that the boy had no breathing or pulse and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the boy as his staff called for an ambulance.
CPR was also administered en route to the hospital, but to no avail.
The boy was pronounced dead at Sengkang General Hospital at 3:12pm.
The cause of death was found to be an acute airway obstruction caused by a foreign body.
A piece of chilli, measuring 10mm by 15mm by 8mm, was firmly lodged in the boy's airway.
"Guilt and remorse is immense": lawyer
A Public Defender's Office (PDO) lawyer said that the man was "not an abusive father" based on family testimonials, CNA reported.
He said that the man only wanted to teach his son that lying was not acceptable behaviour and added that he only put a small part of the chilli into his son's mouth instead of the whole piece.
Testimonials from the man's wife and family support the fact that the man was a "loving father" and "family-oriented man".
He said that his client's "guilt and remorse is immense".
The man was diagnosed with major depressive disorder after the incident and had ideas to take his own life.
"This is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life," the lawyer said.
"It could have been prevented if you did not adopt such a method to discipline your child," said the judge, who described the incident as "indeed a sad case".
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Top photo via Mockup Graphics/Unsplash and Mothership