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SINGAPORE: A 28-year-old man went to trial on Tuesday (February 2) for murdering his four-year-old stepdaughter by beating her after she urinated out of the toilet bowl.
Muhammad Salihin Ismail is accused of killing the girl through two incidents of assault on September 1, 2018, where he hit her several times in the abdomen and kicked her stomach hard while she lay on the ground.
The girl suffered extensive intra-abdominal hemorrhage that killed her a day later, according to indictment sheets.
The court heard that Salihin married the victim’s mother, Syabilla Syamien Riyadi, in August 2016 when the victim was two years old. He was fathered by Syabilla’s previous partner, and Syabilla, now 24, is currently in prison for reasons not identified in public hearing.
The victim called Salihin “dad” and considered him her father, Assistant Prosecutors Senthilkumaran Sabapathy and Lim Yu Hui said.
A few months after Salihin married the victim’s mother, she gave birth to twins that Salihin fathered. The family of five lived together in an apartment, and the couple began potty training the victim to get her ready for school in late September 2018.
On September 1, 2018, Syabilla left for work in the morning, leaving Salihin at home with the victim and the twins.
According to the prosecution case, Salihin saw a pool of urine outside the bathroom around 10 a.m. and realized that the victim had urinated there. Enraged, he called out to the girl and placed her on the toilet bowl, where he allegedly struck her stomach several times with his fist.
Later that day, the girl indicated to Salihin that she wanted to go to the bathroom. Salihin told him to go inside on his own and he did. When he got out, Salihin came in and saw that he had urinated on the floor in front of the toilet bowl.
Apparently he got angry and asked the girl about urine, before pushing her to the ground. While there, Salihin allegedly kicked him in the stomach at least twice.
The girl began to cry, but allegedly placed her in the toilet bowl before hitting her in the stomach several times with his fist, prosecutors charged.
That night, Syabilla came home from work with dinner, but her daughter said her stomach hurt after eating a few bites of rice. When he vomited on the sofa, Salihin and Syabilla applied salve to his stomach.
Between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. on September 2, 2018, the victim continued to vomit periodically. Salihin took her to the bathroom around 8 a.m., where she tried to vomit, but noticed that she was having a hard time doing so.
He used his index finger to “relieve his vomit,” court documents said. The girl vomited and passed out. Salihin then took her out of the bathroom and told Syabilla to call an ambulance.
When paramedics arrived at 9.17 am, they found that the girl had no pulse and was not breathing. Two Hope Ambulance paramedics who attended the scene were the first to testify Tuesday, saying the girl’s hands and legs were stiff.
His mother was crying and couldn’t answer any questions, a paramedic said. His colleague added that he later noticed bruises on the boy’s face.
The boy was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 10.12 am that day.
The hospital reported her death to the police and Salihin was arrested the next day after initial investigations.
The defendant admitted in a statement to the police on September 3, 2018 that he intentionally targeted the girl’s stomach because he wanted to “teach her a lesson” for having “so much trouble urinating or moving.”
An autopsy found that the girl had died of blood within the peritoneal cavity due to blunt trauma to the abdomen. The trauma pathology was consistent with the imposition of “non-accidental injuries to a young child,” prosecutors said.
The prosecution psychiatrist examined Salihin and found that he did not suffer from any mental illness or disorder, but the defense team doctor found that he was currently suffering from intermittent explosive disorder.
The trial continues on Wednesday and Syabilla is expected to take the stand. The prosecution will present evidence from 58 witnesses to prove the charge. If convicted of murder, Salihin can be sentenced to death or life in prison with flogging.
He faces two other charges that have been dropped or shelved for now: placing a hot shower head on the victim’s back in 2017, causing burns, and hitting his head on the floor in early 2018. .
Salihin is defended by attorneys Syazana Yahya and Eugene Thuraisingam.
