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SINGAPORE – For years, a “selfless, loving and devoted father” tirelessly cared for his demanding adult daughter, who incessantly scold her parents, constantly criticized them, and even made them bow down to her.
The unemployed woman, Ms. Desiree Tan Jiaping, told her parents to transfer the money to her and even told her father, a private driver, that she needed to drive more often to earn more money.
Tan Tian Chye, 66, and his wife did whatever it took to pacify their daughter, who had been diagnosed with a mental disorder but refused treatment. Once, he even slapped his wife in front of their daughter to appease her.
On November 19, 2018, after Ms. Tan told her father that she wanted to kill him and then pointed a knife at him, the two had a confrontation in the kitchen of her Bedok South apartment, which ended with So strangling his 35 year old son. eldest daughter.
On Monday (October 12), he was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail after pleading guilty to a reduced count of wrongful death.
A psychiatric evaluation found that Tan was suffering from a major depressive episode and significant stress on the caregiver, which substantially affected his mental responsibility for his actions in killing his daughter.
The sentence was retroactive to the date he was in custody and he is expected to be released from jail this week.
High Court Judge Hoo Sheau Peng said it was a tragic case, which also served as a stark reminder of the importance of paying attention to the mental health of family members and seeking timely treatment.
“By all accounts, he has been a selfless, loving and devoted father who spent years tirelessly caring for his daughter,” Judge Hoo said.
She noted that Tan will continue to suffer the pain and anguish of his actions.
“It is, I believe, the wish of everyone present, that the accused, as well as his family, over time, come to terms with what they have suffered and experience a measure of closure and healing in their lives,” she said .
Tan thanked the judge, prosecutors and his attorneys. “May God bless you all,” he added.
The court heard that Ms. Tan was unable to maintain a full-time job after graduating from college in 2006 and was dependent on her parents to support her.
In 2012, she was taken to Changi General Hospital (CGH) after fainting at an MRT station. He was assessed to have “panic attacks with agoraphobia,” a condition in which patients become anxious in unfamiliar surroundings, and “hypochondriacal worries.”
Since then, she became very anxious to leave the apartment on her own and her boyfriend moved in to live with her.
She also became more particular and demanding of her family members and her boyfriend.
She would ask her parents to clean the items on the floor repeatedly until she was satisfied and also force them to return to the food stand if they made a mistake in their order.
Tan would take a break from her driving and take her out to help her overcome her anxiety, and buy a second-hand car, which she allowed her boyfriend to use to get her out.
In 2017, she told her parents that she wanted to apply for a build-to-order apartment with her boyfriend. He insisted that his parents borrow money from relatives and had his younger brother pay him back the $ 50,000 they had spent on his education.
“The deceased became more insistent and abusive, and blamed the defendant and his wife for not loving her and not providing enough,” Deputy Prosecutor Bhajanvir Singh told the court.
She was upset when she found out that she was not the only beneficiary of money from her mother’s Central Provident Fund and scolded her parents until her mother changed the nomination and sent her a photo to appease her.
In mid-2018, she began complaining about the smell of cigarette smoke on the floor and demanded that her parents find the culprit.
On October 22, 2018, Tan took her to CGH for her cigarette smoke distress. She was diagnosed with an unspecified anxiety disorder, but she refused psychiatric medication and moved to her aunt’s house to escape the smoke.
On November 19, 2018, Tan went looking for her at her aunt’s house. As they packed, she scolded him for being late and being a “lousy” parent.
As they ate lunch, she told him that she wanted to kill him with a fork and continued to scold and curse him on the way back to her apartment.
When they got home, she went to the kitchen and Tan took a metal pole to arm himself while fearing that she would hurt him.
When he entered the kitchen and saw her pointing a knife at him, he hit her with the stick and, after she fell to the floor, he grabbed a cloth and strangled her with it.
So Tan called the police to report that he had killed his daughter.
The DPP sought a three-year jail, noting that Tan was a loving father who was under tremendous stress and deserved some sympathy.
Defense attorney Derek Kang sought two years and nine months in jail.
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