Mum, boyfriend jailed for ruthless torture of toddler

SINGAPORE — Condemning their “ruthless and unrelenting” torture of a two-year-old child, who later died from the abuse, a district judge on Tuesday (July 5) sentenced the child’s mother and her boyfriend to 11 and 10 years in jail, respectively. 

Agreeing that a deterrent sentence was warranted, Principal District Judge Bala Reddy said that the couple’s abuse — which ranged from routine beatings to force-feeding the victim chilli — “reveals a senseless brutality which must be punished by a sentence of corresponding severity”. 

The toddler’s mother, Zaidah, 41, was sentenced to 11 years’ jail — nine years for the charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and two years for one charge of child abuse. 

Her boyfriend, Zaini Jamari, 46, who was not the toddler’s biological father, was given an eight-year jail term and 12 strokes of the cane for voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and a two-year jail term for one charge of ill-treatment, with the sentences to run consecutively. For each of them, sentences for two other child abuse charges will run concurrently.

Principal District Judge Reddy said to the couple: “I have taken into account the fact that you have pleaded guilty to the charges; otherwise the sentences would have been longer.”

Investigations revealed that over a period of five weeks between October and November last year, the couple slapped, kicked and stamped on Mohamad 

Daniel Mohamad Nasser in a one-room flat in Telok Blangah Crescent. On at least two occasions, they forced dried chilli down the toddler’s throat.

Principal District Judge Reddy noted that the injuries described in the pathologist’s report and the photographs of the boy showed how “horrific and inhumane” the punishments were.

“For more than a month, the two of you, in a ruthless and unrelenting manner, inflicted severe torture on your two-year-old child who was unable to retaliate or defend himself,” he said, adding that consultant psychiatrists reported that the couple do not have any intellectual disability or mental disorder.

When the injuries were explained to the couple and the “most unbearable injuries” in photos were shown to them in the dock, the two of them were “nonchalant and showed no remorse or sadness at the most pitiful sight of the deceased child”.

“(The boy) had been subjected to abuse and pain at the hands of the very persons who should have been his source of support, comfort and happiness,” the district judge continued. “The idea of a mother causing such grievous hurt and ill-treatment of the baby she had carried for nine months is simply incomprehensible.”  

The court agrees with the prosecution’s plea for a deterrent sentence that is “sufficiently long”, to signal that such crimes against vulnerable young victims will not be tolerated in Singapore’s society.

Previously, the court heard that the toddler — who was 0.9m tall, weighed 10.8kg and was usually clad in diapers — was often made to stand with his hands on his head throughout the day as “punishment”.

When he was unable to stand straight or appeared tired, his mother would slap his face repeatedly. On one occasion, he fell to the ground after a forceful slap, and bled in the mouth in another instance.

Outside the court on Tuesday, the toddler’s biological uncle, Mr Manaf Al Ansari, told reporters that he was disappointed with the verdict. 

“I am getting a lawyer to write to the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) to review their sentences,” the 48-year-old religious teacher said. 

The toddler’s biological father, Mr Mohamad Nasser Abdul Gani, lamented in Malay that the sentence was not enough. The 42-year-old, who is not working at the moment, said: “My son remains dead.”