SINGAPORE Nov 11 — In the midst of marital problems, a man told his 11-year-old daughter to take sleeping pills, so that he could show his wife that their disputes were causing stress to their child.
When the girl overdosed and police investigated the case, he told her to lie to them that she had taken the pills voluntarily to commit suicide.
Today, the 40-year-old man pleaded guilty to three charges of ill-treatment of a child, perverting the course of justice and using insulting words towards public servants.He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identity of his daughter, who is now 14 years old.
He will return to court on December 9, where District Judge Seah Chi-Ling will consider three other charges for sentencing. His lawyer Christopher Bridges will also give his mitigation plea then.
Victim felt 'overwhelmed'
The court heard that in April 2018, the man and his daughter were living in a Housing and Development Board flat in Toa Payoh. He had custody and control over her, while his wife was living in Woodlands.
On the evening of April 7, the couple had an argument over the phone. In an agitated state, the man called his daughter into his bedroom around midnight. Shouting at her, he instructed her to retrieve a bottle of sleeping pills, which had been prescribed to her grandmother. They contained amitriptyline — a poison listed under the Schedule of the Poisons Act.
He then told her to take them.“Feeling overwhelmed, she consumed about six pills,” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Joshua Phang told the court.
He told her that he wanted to show her mother that their marital disputes had caused the girl to “suffer stress,” and that her mother was “at fault for not properly taking care of her own child,” DPP Phang said.
The girl then followed her father’s instructions to take more pills. She soon felt weak and sleepy, losing consciousness.The father and the girl’s nine-year-old brother then hailed a taxi and took her to the Woodlands flat. Along the way, the father called the Singapore Civil Defence Force for help.
A police report, which referred to the call, stated: “A 12-year-old female took pills and attempted to jump.” When they got to the Woodlands flat, the man told his wife that she would be answerable if anything happened to their daughter.
An ambulance arrived shortly afterwards. The girl got to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in an “altered mental state.” She was drowsy, physically combative and “made no vocalisations”, according to a medical report. She had suffered an amitriptyline overdose, and was warded for one month and one week.
Nabbed at Changi Beach Park
While in hospital, her father visited her and told her to lie to the police.When officers visited her on April 18, 2018, she told them that she had voluntarily taken the pills as she felt no one in her family cared for her, and wanted to kill herself.
She also said she was sorry for her actions and for troubling so many people.Two months later, the police told her that no further action would be taken against her. Her father’s offences only came to light in August that year, when she spoke to social workers about it.
On the afternoon of Jan 2, 2019, two police officers responded to a call for help from Changi Beach Park. The caller said he had seen three men “taking some rolled up substance” and “having picnic in front of the toilet.” The girl’s father was part of the group.
When he said he had not brought his National Registration Identity Card, an officer asked if he could remember his NRIC number.He then stood up and shouted: “Of course I can remember, you stupid ah? You got your f***ing brains or not? Can don’t ask stupid question?”
He told the other officer his NRIC number. They then arrested him after discovering there was an outstanding warrant of arrest issued against him. — TODAY
