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SINGAPORE – Two brothers were jailed on Thursday (January 7) for crimes related to physical abuse by their family from a friend with a mild intellectual disability that left her in a near-death state.
Muhammad Iskandar Ismail, 32, was jailed for two months and four weeks after pleading guilty to one count of causing harm to the victim by slapping, hitting and tripping her. He also admitted to one charge of giving a false statement to the police.
Muhammad Iski Ismail, 30, was jailed for eight months after admitting on one charge that each one provided a false statement to the police and perverted the course of justice.
Her two sisters also appeared in court on Thursday.
Haslinda Ismail, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of willfully causing injury and one count of twisting the victim’s toe with pliers until it fractured.
Hasniza Ismail, 39, admitted one count each of wrongful confinement, willfully causing harm and perverting the course of justice.
The women will be sentenced at a later date, where a further 14 charges for Haslinda and seven for Hasniza will be considered.
In November last year, Haslinda’s husband, Hany Aboubakr Abdelkarim Abdelfattah, 33, was jailed for three weeks for his involvement in the abuse.
Court documents state that the victim, now 30, was a high school friend of another family member, Mr. Muhammad Isafi Ismail, and worked at a fast food restaurant.
He got to know the rest of his family and grew closer to them over time.
After running away from home in early 2016, the woman moved into her apartment at Block 714 Woodlands Drive 70, where she remained without paying rent.
But she had to buy her own food and give the siblings’ mother, Hasmah Sulong, 69, $ 150 a month to do laundry. He also handed over his ATM card, passport and NRIC to Haslinda at the latter’s request.
Sometime between May and June 2016, Haslinda confronted the victim for performing sexual acts with her husband. Thereafter, several family members repeatedly abused the victim.
This included using tweezers to twist his toes, hitting his teeth with a hammer, using a baseball bat to hit his head, and splashing it with boiling water.
The court heard that Haslinda confiscated the victim’s mobile phone in June 2016. Thereafter, the victim stopped working at the fast food restaurant and was forced to do housework without pay. She was also taken to Malaysia on several occasions to help clean the family’s floor there.
Haslinda and Hany later moved into a unit in Block 785A Woodlands Rise. On August 31, 2017, Haslinda brought the victim to her home to help with Hari Raya Haji’s preparations.
He then made the victim stand in the kitchen and made sure not to use the bathroom or sleep that night.
After the victim got dirty the next day, Haslinda hit her with various items and used zip ties to secure her hands and legs.
The victim was forced to stand in the kitchen in her dirty pants until the family arrived for the Hari Raya celebrations around 3pm. Haslinda then urinated on a food package and forced the victim to eat it.
Court documents also indicate that the victim initially slept in the living room, but had her arm, leg or neck later secured with a metal chain to a baby crib at night.
She was later chained to a metal plaque on the wall outside Hasniza’s room, before being moved to the bathroom when her incontinence became very severe in December 2017.
In late December 2017, she was chained half-naked to the toilet bowl, where she sat on her own feces and urine, and ate from the bathroom floor.
She was very weak and had “an unbearable stench”, but none of the family members sought medical treatment for her.
On January 16, 2018, the victim was rushed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in a “near-death state,” where he required eight hours of resuscitation in the emergency department.
She was then transferred to Singapore General Hospital, where she was found to be suffering from pneumonia and various injuries, including ear deformities, body burns and 10 missing teeth. She was discharged three months later.
According to court documents, Hasniza ordered Iski to tell police officers that the victim had shown up at her apartment with her injuries about two weeks prior to January 16, 2018.
He also told her to spread her instructions to other members of the family. Subsequently, Iski and Iskandar maintained this account in their statements to the police.
All three family members later confessed that they had lied.
Iskandar, Iski, Haslinda and Hasniza are represented by attorneys Farhan Tyebally, Cheryl Ng, Audrey Koo, and Sadhana Devi Daevnrd Rai, respectively.
Hasmah’s case is still pending.
Forced to eat urine-stained food, chained to a toilet: some of the abuse suffered by the victim
The nightmare began sometime between May and June 2016, just a few months after the victim moved in with the family.
For about a year and a half until January 2018, she suffered from various abuses, including:
- Made to eat food stained with the urine of one of his abusers;
- Her toes were twisted with pliers, causing one of them to fracture;
- Scalding with hot water, causing burns in various parts of his body;
- Her hands, legs, or neck were chained to a baby swing and then to a metal plate on the wall;
- Chained to a toilet since late December 2017;
- Splashed with hot oil, causing wounds on his lips and burns on his body;
- His two upper front teeth were struck twice with a hammer, causing him to lose both;
- Beaten with a baseball bat, a broomstick, a coat hanger, and a towel;
- Made to stand up all night without sleeping or using the bathroom;
- It struck his abdomen and arm;
- Kick in his waist and back while lying on the ground;
- Tied by cable ties;
- Slapped in the face;
- He stumbled on the ground.
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