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SINGAPORE: A caregiver depressed and under stress from caring for his unemployed and mentally ill daughter, a man strangled his “beloved” daughter, before calling the police to say that he had just killed his daughter.
Tan Tian Chye, 66, was sentenced Monday (October 12) to two years and nine months in jail after pleading guilty to one count of manslaughter that does not amount to murder.
The court heard that Tan, a driver for Grab, lived with his wife and daughter, Tan Jiaping Desiree, 35, in an apartment on Bedok South Road.
Ms. Tan graduated from college in 2006 but was unable to hold a full-time job, so her parents continued to support her.
In 2012, she fainted at a train station and Tan took her to a hospital, where she was assessed for panic attacks with agoraphobia and hypochondriacal concerns.
After this, Ms. Tan became very anxious to leave the apartment on her own and became very dependent on her parents and her boyfriend, who moved in to stay with her.
YOUR GROWING DEMANDS
Ms. Tan became more particular and demanding of her family members and her boyfriend, Deputy Prosecutor Bhajanvir Singh said.
She would ask her parents to clean any items from the floor that she felt were dirty and to do it repeatedly until she was satisfied.
If his parents got their food orders wrong, he would send them back to the stall to change the order, otherwise he would get angry and scold them.
So often she would take time off from work to take her daughter for a ride so she could overcome her anxiety issues and then buy a second-hand car for her boyfriend so he could do the same.
In 2017, Ms. Tan told her parents that she wanted to apply for a Build-To-Order floor with her boyfriend and began asking for more money, becoming “more pushy and abusive.”
She blamed her parents for not loving her and not giving her enough, constantly berating them even in small matters.
At her insistence, her brother returned S $ 50,000 that her parents had spent on her education, and this sum was given to Ms. Tan.
Tan also borrowed S $ 10,000 from his brother and gave it to his daughter.
The daughter also demanded to be named the sole beneficiary of the money from her parents’ Central Provident Fund, and became very angry and scolded her mother when she realized that she was not the only beneficiary.
Her parents apologized to her and her mother changed her CPF nomination to make Tan the sole beneficiary, sending her a photo of the change to appease her.
Worsening behavior and the problem of cigarette smoke
In mid-2018, Ms. Tan’s behavior worsened, constantly criticizing her parents and scolding them with vulgarities. He began complaining about cigarette smoke on the floor, demanding that his parents find its source and making them fan the smoke with cardboard and buy powerful fans.
Tan and his wife did whatever it took to pacify Ms. Tan, apologizing to her and bowing to her. On one occasion, at the urging of his wife, Tan slapped his wife in front of their daughter to appease her.
On October 22, 2018, Tan took his daughter to Changi General Hospital for her distress from cigarette smoke and was diagnosed with an unspecified anxiety disorder.
However, she rejected psychiatric medication “because of her own perceived fears of a psychological dependence on it.”
She was discharged a day later and moved to her aunt’s house to escape the smoke, but continued her “authoritarian behavior” towards her parents, asking them to transfer money to her, the court heard. He also told his father to drive more often to earn more money.
Ms. Tan’s mother was unable to handle her, leaving her husband to address her daughter’s behavior and demands.
“The defendant felt very stressed by the constant demands and scolding of the deceased. He felt that she had caused both he and his wife to be almost on the verge of suicide,” the prosecution said.
On the morning of November 19, 2018, Tan went to look for her daughter at her aunt’s house, as she had instructed the day before. He canceled all the Grab reservations he had as she directed and came home with boxes for his belongings.
As he helped her pack, his daughter scolded him for being late and being a “lousy” father, and Tan apologized to her before taking her to a mall for lunch.
During lunch, Ms. Tan continued to scold and scold her father, holding her fork tightly and saying that she wanted to kill him with it.
Tan was scared and kept apologizing to her. When they returned to Bedok’s flat, Ms. Tan went to the kitchen.
THE INCIDENT
Fearing that his daughter might take something from the kitchen to harm him, Tan went to his son’s old bedroom and grabbed a metal pole from a partially dismantled battery to assemble himself.
He went to the kitchen with the stick and saw his daughter holding a knife and pointing it at it.
Tan beat his daughter with the stick until she fell to the ground, before taking a nearby cloth and pressing it onto his daughter’s neck.
After a while, he realized that she had stopped moving and released his hold, feeling shocked by what he had done.
He called the police, before calling his brother and calling the police a second time to say, “I just killed my daughter. I grab the pole and hit her. I think she’s already dead.”
Police arrived and saw Tan crouched in the kitchen entrance, his daughter motionless on the kitchen floor. The towel was on his neck, while the knife and stick were close.
She was pronounced dead, and an autopsy found the cause of her death to be strangulation.
Tan was placed in pretrial detention for a forensic psychiatric evaluation and it was found that he was suffering from a major depressive episode at the time of the crime, which substantially affected his mental responsibility for his actions.
He felt his daughter had placed him and his wife “under such mental torment that it drove them to suicide,” the court heard.
The psychiatrist also found that Tan had significant stress from the caregiver at the time of the offense, and both this and his depressive episode qualified Tan for a diminished liability defense.
A TRAGIC CASE: FISCAL
Deputy Prosecutor Bhajanvir Singh asked for three years in jail, called it a “tragic case” and agreed with the defense that “this case deserves a little sympathy.”
“The defendant was a caring father who was the main caregiver for the deceased,” Singh said, adding that the victim’s various psychiatric conditions had put “tremendous stress” on the family.
Due to this stress, Tan was later diagnosed with major depressive disorder and significant stress on the caregiver, both of which contributed to the offense and led to the death of the deceased, “whom he loved very much.”
Defense attorney Derek Kang asked for two years and nine months in jail, saying his client had used a metal pole in the attack, but said this was because his daughter was holding a knife.
She had also told him over lunch that she wanted to kill him, which was a direct death threat, Kang said.
“Ultimately, whatever sentence the Honorable Member decides will not be a greater punishment than he has already suffered for killing his beloved daughter,” he added.
Judge Hoo Sheau Peng said this was a tragic case as agreed by both parties.
THE JUDGE MARKS THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
“By all accounts, Mr. Tan, you have been a selfless, loving and devoted father,” he said, adding that he spent years caring for a daughter who suffered from psychiatric illness but refused treatment.
She noted the defense point that this case serves “as a stark reminder of the importance of mental health issues and families needing to be alert” to such issues that develop or affect family members.
He said it was critical for society to improve access to treatment for mental health problems and said it was “unfortunate” that the Tan family did not seek or receive much help, support and intervention for Ms. Tan and later for her father.
She said Tan is now responding to treatment and urged him to stick with his treatment plan and have his family support him in the process.
He said that while Tan will no doubt continue to suffer pain and anguish from what he has done, he hopes the family will eventually come to terms with what happened and find closure.
Tan cried and said he understood, thanking the judge and everyone involved: “Thank you all. May God bless you all.”
For wrongful death that did not amount to murder, you could have been imprisoned for up to 10 years, fined, or both. He cannot be spanked because he is over 50 years old.
Where to get help: Samaritans of Singapore operates a 24-hour hotline at 1800 221 4444, or you can send an email to [email protected]. If someone you know is at immediate risk, call 24-hour emergency medical services.
