In 2016, a five-year-old boy died after being subjected to all kinds of horrific abuse by his parents.
On Tuesday (18 Oct), his mother, Azlin Arujunah, and his father, Ridzuan Mega Abdul Rahman, received their final sentences at the Court of Appeal.
This was following an appeal by prosecutors against the original sentence of 27 years’ jail each.
Both 30-year-olds will now receive life imprisonment for murder.
Ridzuan will no longer be caned as originally sentenced. Azlin also managed to avoid the death penalty as judges said that she did not completely understand that her actions would result in the boy’s death.
Two years ago, the Singaporean couple was sentenced to 27 years’ jail for splashing hot water on their son until he passed away from his injuries.
They also kept the boy in a cage, beat him, burned him, and pinched him with pliers.
Source: BERITAmediacorp on Facebook
Additionally, Ridzuan was sentenced to 24 strokes of the cane while Azlin received an additional 12 months in jail.
However, the prosecution appealed against these sentences, arguing that the couple should receive life imprisonment for murder with common intention.
The case was then referred to the Court of Appeal, which sentenced Ridzuan to the maximum term of life imprisonment.
It also convicted Azlin of murder by common intention.
On Tuesday (18 Oct), judges ruled that Azlin should not receive the death penalty, despite the prosecution’s argument.
“The evidence did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Azlin knew her son would likely die from the repeated scalding incidents,” according to the judgment.
They had scalded the boy on four occasions and after the fourth time, he collapsed and did not respond.
However, they only sent him to the hospital over six hours later as they were scared of getting into trouble for abusing him. The child passed away the next day on 23 Oct 2016.
Azlin had been under the assumption that the scalding injuries would heal on their own, as she had been scalded by her own parents when she was young.
She also applied cream and baby powder on the boy following the scalding incidents.
Thus, the judges did not agree that Azlin showed viciousness or a blatant disregard for human life in causing the boy’s death.
While they agreed with prosecutors that the manner of the offence carried out was “particularly cruel” and “immensely disturbing”, they said the gruesome nature of the offences should not be confused with vicious intent.
The Court of Appeal also rejected the prosecutors’ claim to sentence Ridzuan to 12 strokes of the cane along with life imprisonment.
They said that the couple had similar levels of culpability. Thus, Ridzuan should not receive a much higher sentence than Azlin, who had already gotten life in prison.
This is even though they were convicted of different offences.
Ridzuan had begun the abuse on the boy by using pliers and had abused Azlin as well, but the latter also contributed to the scalding incidents that led to his death.
As such, Ridzuan also received life imprisonment, but no caning.
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Featured images by MS News and adapted from BERITAmediacorp on Facebook.
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