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SINGAPORE – Shaken by an argument with his wife, a man caused his 11-year-old daughter to overdose on sleeping pills, leading to hospitalization for more than a month.
She later told her daughter to lie to the police saying that she had taken the pills herself because she wanted to commit suicide, and she obeyed.
The 40-year-old man pleaded guilty on Wednesday (November 11) to three counts of mistreating a child in his custody, intentionally perverting the course of justice and using insulting words against police. Three other charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
Not all parties can be named in this case, due to gag orders that protect the identity of the victim.
The court heard that the man was living separately from his wife at the time of the crimes in April 2018, due to ongoing marriage disputes.
He had custody of the victim, who lived with him. On the night of April 7, 2018, the victim was feeling unwell and asked her mother to pick her up and take her to the doctor.
As her mother did not want to see the accused, she asked her daughter to take a taxi to her apartment. Later that night, the defendant called his wife and got into a fight with her over the phone.
In the early hours of April 8, 2018, the man called his daughter into her room and instructed her to retrieve a bottle of sleeping pills that had been prescribed for the victim’s grandmother.
Agitated after the above discussion, the man instructed his daughter to take the pills, which contained amitriptyline, a substance listed as a poison in the Poison Law.
The girl was overwhelmed and took six pills, before going to the playground outside as her father directed. He told the victim that he wanted to show his mother that their marriage disputes had caused the victim to suffer stress and that his mother “was to blame for not taking proper care of her own child.”
The man told his daughter to take several more pills and she obeyed. Then she felt weak and sleepy and passed out.
Her father took her to his wife’s residence and called 995 for help along the way. When they reached the floor, the victim’s mother opened the door and saw her daughter lying on the ground. Her husband told her that it would be her fault if something happened to the victim.
The girl was rushed to the hospital shortly after and diagnosed with an amitriptyline overdose. She was found to be in “an altered state of mind”, sleepy and not speaking.
Told him to lie to the police
She was protected for more than a month. When the defendant visited his daughter in the hospital, he instructed her to give false information to the police.
He told her to tell anyone who asked her what happened that she had taken the pills to kill herself.
The police investigated the girl for a crime of attempted suicide based on the events of April 8, 2018 and took a statement from her while her father was by her side.
She told the police officer that she had voluntarily taken the pills because she felt that no one in her family was taking care of her and said that she intended to commit suicide.
He added that he apologized for upsetting so many people. She was later told by the police that no further action would be taken against her and that her father’s crimes were only discovered when the victim told social workers about the incident in August 2018.
The man also pleaded guilty to insulting police officers in January last year when they asked for his NRIC card while taking a call about men “taking rolled substance.”
The offender, who was originally scheduled for trial, will return to court for mitigation and sentencing next month.
For abusing a child in your care, you could be jailed for up to four years, fined up to S $ 4,000, or both. For perverting the course of justice, you could be imprisoned for up to seven years, fined, or both. For insulting a public servant, you could be jailed for up to one year, fined up to S $ 5,000, or both.
