A 38-year-old Singaporean father was sentenced to eight months in jail on Thursday (30 May) for causing the death of his 4-year-old son.
The father forced a bit of chili into the boy’s mouth as a form of discipline after the child, who was potty training, lied about defecating.
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It lodged in the boy’s airway, causing him to choke to death.
A gag order was placed on both the victim and the accused to protect the privacy of the man’s other children, reported Channel News Asia.
The family, which consists of the man, his wife, and four children were at their flat on 2 August 2022 when the incident happened.
The father noticed that the victim smelt of faeces when he was supposed to tell his parents if he needed to relieve himself. When the father questioned the boy, the boy denied defacating.
To discipline his son for lying, the father decided to make him eat a bite of chilli while the boy was lying on the floor. The boy refused to eat the chilli but the father managed to force the tip of the chilli to the boy’s mouth, past his teeth.
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Shortly after, the boy began running around and gesturing at his throat before collapsing. His mother attempted the Heimlich manoeuvre, but his condition did not improve.
They rushed him to a nearby family clinic, but by then, he was not breathing and had no pulse. A doctor performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the boy could not be saved.
He was pronounced dead at about 3:10 p.m. at Sengkang General Hospital.
An autopsy verified that “acute airway obstruction by foreign body” had caused the boy’s death. A 10mm by 15mm by 8mm piece of chilli was found firmly lodged in his airway.
The prosecutor sought a jail term of nine to twelve months, while the man’s lawyer requested a seven-month sentence.
Public Defender’s Office lawyer Taufiq Suraidi argued that his client’s degree of rashness “cannot be said to be high.”
He added that his client was “not an abusive father” according to family testimonials and referred to the autopsy, which revealed no signs of abuse other than the chili lodged in the boy’s airway.
Mr Taufiq highlighted that his client had taken precautions by not forcing the entire chili into his son’s mouth, only inserting “a small part of it” and stopping once he felt the chili had passed his son’s teeth.
This, he argued, showed the father’s intention was solely to discipline his son and teach him not to lie.
The lawyer also noted the father’s immense guilt and remorse, mentioning that he had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and had experienced suicidal ideations after the incident.
However, District Judge Ong Hian Sun stated that the tragedy could have been prevented if the father had not chosen such a method to discipline his child.
Also read: Jail for stepfather in S’pore who abused 11-year-old girl to death, mother will also serve time
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Featured image adapted from Pexels for illustrative purposes only, Unsplash
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