Mother jailed for 8 years for fatal abuse of son

SINGAPORE — Instead of fulfilling her maternal duty to protect and care for her child, Noraidah Mohd Yussof abused her two-year-old toddler on and off over two years until he died of a head injury from a beating, said prosecutors, who said she deserved to be put behind bars for at least 12 years.

The defence, however, argued for no more than 10 years’ jail as they sought to prove that the 34-year-old was labouring under Asperger Syndrome and depression — which the prosecution rejected.

On Friday (July 29), Noraidah was sentenced to eight years’ jail in a High Court, following a three-day inquiry over her mental state. She had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and two counts of ill-treatment under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Noraidah started abusing her son, Mohammad Airyl Amirul Haziq Mohamed Ariff, when he was two. She shoved him and stepped on his ribs because he refused to study the alphabet.

She also twisted and pulled his hand when he scrawled on a sofa, landing him in hospital with fractures.

On Aug 1, 2014, she shoved Airyl to the ground and he hit his head on the ground repeatedly after he failed to recite numbers in Malay. She also choked the four-year-old, lifting him off the ground by the neck.

After four days in hospital, Airyl succumbed to his head injury. Multiple scars, lacerations, abrasions and bruising were found all over Airyl’s head, neck, chest, back and limbs.

Defence lawyer Sunil Sudheesan, citing a psychiatric assessment by Dr Tommy Tan, said that his client suffered from both Asperger’s and depression.

Asperger’s is a form of autism that causes repetitive behaviour and difficulty with social interactions.

Dr Tan said Noraidah found it hard to interact with others, and was only interested in drawing, writing and modelling. He added that because of her mental conditions, she was not able to form a bond with her son.

On the contrary, Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist Subhash Gupta did not agree that Noraidah suffered from any mental disorder. But she did have personality aberrations, including a tendency to act impulsively, a very low tolerance for frustration and a low threshold for resorting to aggression.

Deputy Public Prosecutor April Phang argued that Noraidah’s demeanour when she testified in court was “regular and consistent with a person not suffering from any social communication deficits”.

She added: “(Noraidah) was quick to respond to questions, clarified questions when she did not understand, shed tears when talking about her family ... there is simply nothing awkward or deficient about her communication capacity.”

As Airyl’s biological mother, Noraidah was responsible for protecting and caring for him, said Ms Phang. But she frequently lost her temper when Airyl did not meet her expectations on “appropriate behaviour” and repeatedly pushed him till he fell.

“Instead of helping him up or leaving him alone when he was down on the ground, she even used her hands to choke him twice and had also stepped on his knees and ribs,” she added, describing this as one of the saddest cases of child abuse here.

Mr Sunil agreed that it was a sad case but pointed out that his client had abused her son while undergoing divorce proceedings in 2012, and after her boyfriend left her in 2014.

“We have to understand her particular stressors at that time. (Her boyfriend) left, she was alone with the children ... her mother was sick and her financial pressures were adding up. She was unemployed. That’s where she faulted. That’s where she took things too far,” he said.

“I hope this case would be a prompt for the host of mothers out there who have difficulty asking for help. She, unfortunately, did not avail herself to those support mechanisms. She felt abandoned.”

Mr Sunil added that Noraidah would always be haunted by the fact that she killed her son, and that was in itself a severe punishment.