Man on trial for young daughter's murder: Wife says 'feels sad' for stepchildren confined naked in toilet
https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...y_Today-Morning-Brief_newsletter_07072023_tdy- A woman testified on Thursday (July 6) against her husband who is standing trial for allegedly murdering his daughter
- The girl and her younger brother had been confined naked in the toilet at home for about a year
- The woman said that this was because her stepchildren would often tear off their diapers and fill them up with water
- She adding that she felt "sad for them" and was remorseful
SINGAPORE — Two young siblings had been left naked all the time in the toilet at home because they would often tear off their diapers and fill them up with water, their stepmother told the court on Thursday (July 6), adding that she felt "sad for them".
The 32-year-old woman was testifying as a prosecution witness in the trial of her husband — the children's biological father, who faces a single murder charge of abusing his daughter to death.
At the start of the trial on Wednesday, when asked what kind of feelings she had towards her stepchildren, she had said: "I don't feel anything."
The court had heard that the the girl and her brother had been forced to live in the toilet of the family's one-room flat for around a year.
Sometime in August 2017, the five-year-old girl was found dead after being allegedly assaulted by her father, now 43, the day before.
Her brother was just under four years old at the time.
On Thursday, the stepmother took the stand to describe how her husband, whom she is in the process of divorcing, often assaulted the girl.
She said that she seldom intervened as the man would just hit or push her away when he was in an agitated state.
She also said she herself had hit the children at times. On one occasion it was because she was "shocked" to find they were eating faeces. She did not say why they did so.
At other times, she was angry when she saw that the children had caused a mess at home.
The couple cannot be named due to a gag order by the court.
'ABNORMAL' ABUSE
Addressing the court, the girl's stepmother said the way her husband hit the girl and her younger brother was "abnormal".The prosecution had told the court on Wednesday that the man started assaulting the pair sometime in 2015.
When probed by Deputy Public Prosecutor Norine Tan on Thursday, she said: "It's exaggerated. The way he punch or hit is like non-stop and it does not look like him."
She added that the man would seem like a different person when he got angry or frustrated.
"He punched (the children) as if he was hitting an adult," she said.
Closed circuit television footage (CCTV) showing the girl being abused in March 2016 was played in court. She was around four at the time, the court heard.
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