Now, his wife has pleaded guilty to several charges of abusing their children and perverting justice. For these offences, she has received a jail sentence of 14 years.
Her offences include feeding her eldest son and deceased daughter, Umaisyah, chilli padi as well as leaving her children in a flat without adequate food or water.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Umaisyah’s mother admitted today (7 Feb) to abusing her children and perverting justice.
The 12 charges she faced included feeding her eldest son and Umaisyah chilli padi as a form of punishment, reported The Straits Times (ST).
She would also slap them and assault them with a belt and hanger.
Other charges considered by the court involved lying to a Child Protection Service officer by claiming she had six children instead of seven. This was to deliberately avoid mentioning Umaisyah.
The woman also confessed to the ill-treatment of her children, leaving them in the flat without adult supervision or enough food and water.
Case workers visiting the apartment in 2017 and 2018 came across the children unsupervised on five occasions. The eldest son, who was 10 at the time, skipped school to look after his siblings.
Sometimes, the children had no food or water and were thirsty and hungry.
CNA stated that the woman cannot be named as a result of gag orders protecting the identities of her surviving children.
In remand since September 2019, she initially faced a murder charge alongside her husband for Umaisyah’s death. However, the court later withdrew this charge.
Arguing for 14 to 14.5 years’ jail for the mother, the prosecution said the woman was not forced to lie about her daughter’s whereabouts after her death, ST noted.
Instead, she made a concerted effort to cover it up.
The prosecution added that her children were very young, with the youngest just two years old when she left them alone in their eighth floor unit.
In Sep 2023, the High Court sentenced her husband to 21.5 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane for his involvement in Umaisyah’s death.
While sentencing Umaisyah’s father, the judge called his actions “vicious, callous and heinous,” labelling the incident one of the worst cases of culpable homicide.
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