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SINGAPORE – A nanny was found guilty on Thursday (October 15) of poisoning two babies in her care with a variety of medications, including some used to treat insomnia and anxiety disorders.
After a trial, District Judge John Ng convicted Sa’adiah Jamari, 39, of two counts of administering poisons to girls with the intent to harm them in separate incidents in November and December 2016.
One of the girls was only five months old at the time, while the other was 11 months old. They are not related to each other. The girls and their mothers cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identity of the boys.
During the trial, the mother of the youngest girl, 29, testified that she posted an ad on Facebook in October 2016, saying she needed a babysitter for her baby and her oldest daughter, who was then five years old.
Court documents did not indicate whether poison had been found in the eldest daughter’s body.
After Sa’adiah responded, the mother visited her Hougang apartment and found it “suitable” for her daughters.
The court heard that Sa’adiah began caring for the girls in early November of that year.
But after the first few visits, the mother noticed that her youngest daughter seemed “grumpy” and “threw” her bottle aside when she was fed.
The mother had told Judge Ng that after the fourth time this happened, she decided to take the girl to the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) in late November 2016.
He added that a health professional said the baby seemed “fine” after examination and that no poisonous substances were found in the baby.
When her son’s condition did not improve, she took her to Parkway East Hospital the following month.
The court heard that the daughter was protected for about five days and the mother received a report from the hospital listing multiple substances detected in the baby’s body.
They included temazepam, a sleeping medicine, antihistamine chlorpheniramine, and alprazolam, which is used to treat anxiety disorders.
The mother alerted the police in late December 2016. She had testified that her youngest daughter is now fine.
The 22-year-old mother of the older baby had also testified in court previously. During the trial, she told the court that she had posted on a Facebook group in December 2016 that she needed someone to take care of her baby on Christmas night.
Sa’adiah responded to the message and the mother sent her son to the older woman’s apartment.
Around 6 am the next morning, her boyfriend picked up the baby and the woman noticed that her baby looked “tired.”
She added: “” Even after waking up, she was very sleepy. She couldn’t walk. After an hour … it’s still the same … His head kept spinning around and around. “
The baby was brought to the KKH that day and admitted. A urine sample taken from the boy was later found to contain substances that included alprazolam. She was discharged on January 1, 2017.
During the trial, Sa’adiah denied having administered medication to the two babies.
However, the court heard that all drugs found in the babies had also been detected in Sa’adiah’s own system in 2016.
On Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Yan Jiakang urged Judge Ng to sentence her to seven years in prison, noting that the case involved “vulnerable and defenseless” victims.
In mitigation, defense attorney Chua Eng Hui said Sa’adiah is divorced and a single mother of two children. The court heard that she also had a history of “major depression.”
Sa’adiah is now out on a $ 10,000 bond and will be sentenced on November 24.
For each count of causing harm with poisons, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined or punished. Saadiah cannot be spanked because she is a woman.
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