Jail for father who made 11-year-old daughter overdose on sleeping pills over marital dispute

• A father asked his young child to take sleeping pills
• It was to show his wife that their marital disputes were causing stress to the child
• He told the girl to lie to the police that she wanted to commit suicide
• The man’s lawyer said he committed the offence without realising the seriousness of his actions 

SINGAPORE — Battling marital problems, a man told his 11-year-old daughter to take sleeping pills to show his wife that their disputes were causing stress to their child.

When the girl overdosed and the police investigated the case, he told her to lie to them that she had taken the pills voluntarily to commit suicide.

For his offences, the 40-year-old father was jailed six months and two weeks on Wednesday (Jan 13).

He had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of ill-treatment of a child, perverting the course of justice and using insulting words towards public servants.

He cannot be named due to a court order to protect the identity of his daughter, who is now 14 years old.

On Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Joshua Phang noted that he had abused the parental relationship the father and daughter shared.

“(He) persisted in his reckless cause of action over several hours with no way of knowing how much harm (he) caused,” DPP Phang said.

He added that while the girl suffered no permanent physical harm from the incident, the man should not be credited for it.

The father’s lawyer Christopher Bridges said that the man committed the offence “in an aggravated state of frustration at the ongoing marital dispute” and without realising the seriousness of his actions.

“(He) is also genuinely remorseful for his actions and realises that it was a stupid act,” Mr Bridges said.

The father-of-two is still married to the mother, who is living with the daughter in a different home. Until his incarceration, he has been living with another woman who is the mother of his nine-year-old son.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court had heard that in April 2018, the man and his daughter were living in a Housing and Development Board flat in Toa Payoh.

He had custody and control over her, while his wife was living in Woodlands.

On the evening of April 7, the couple had an argument over the phone. In an agitated state, the man called his daughter into his bedroom around midnight.

Shouting at her, he instructed her to retrieve a bottle of sleeping pills, which had been prescribed to her grandmother. They contained amitriptyline — a poison listed under the Schedule of the Poisons Act.

He then told her to take them.

Feeling overwhelmed, she consumed about six pills.

He told her that he wanted to show her mother that their marital disputes had caused the girl to “suffer stress”, and that her mother was “at fault for not properly taking care of her own child”, DPP Phang said.

The girl then followed her father’s instructions to take more pills. She soon felt weak and sleepy, losing consciousness.

The father and the girl’s nine-year-old brother then hailed a taxi and took her to the Woodlands flat. Along the way, the father called the Singapore Civil Defence Force for help.

A police report, which referred to the call, stated: “A 12-year-old female took pills and attempted to jump.”

When they got to the Woodlands flat, the man told his wife that she would be answerable if anything happened to their daughter. An ambulance arrived shortly afterwards.

The girl got to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in an “altered mental state”. She was drowsy, physically combative and “made no vocalisations”, a medical report stated.

She had suffered an amitriptyline overdose, and was warded for one month and one week.

While in hospital, her father visited her and told her to lie to the police.

When officers visited her on April 18, 2018, she told them that she had voluntarily taken the pills as she felt no one in her family cared for her and she wanted to kill herself. She also said that she was sorry for her actions and for troubling so many people.

Two months later, the police told her that no further action would be taken against her.

Her father’s offences came to light only in August that year, when she spoke to social workers about the incident.

VERBALLY ABUSING POLICE

In a separate incident, on the afternoon of Jan 2, 2019, two police officers responded to a call for help from Changi Beach Park. The caller said that he had seen three men “taking some rolled-up substance” and “having a picnic in front of the toilet”.

The girl’s father was part of the group.

When he said he had not brought his National Registration Identity Card (NRIC), an officer asked if he could remember his NRIC number.

He then stood up and shouted at them using an expletive.

He told the other officer his NRIC number. They then arrested him after discovering that there was an outstanding warrant of arrest issued against him.

For each count of ill-treating a child, the man could have been jailed up to four years or fined up to S$4,000, or both. For perverting the course of justice, he could have been jailed up to seven years or fined, or both, and for insulting a public servant, he could have been jailed up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or both.