Jail for woman who made stepdaughter, 8, spike biological mother's drink with medication; girl told to suffocate mum to death
- A 32-year-old woman was sentenced to one year's jail for making her stepdaughter spike her biological mother's drink
- The woman had asked the child, then eight years old, to put powdered Bromalex into the victim's drink
- It contains bromazepam, which can lead to effects such as sleepiness, impaired memory and deterioration of cognition
BY
CHARLENE GOH
Published January 12, 2023Updated January 12, 2023
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SINGAPORE — Upset that her eight-year-old stepdaughter viewed her as an elder sister instead of a mother, a woman made the girl spike her biological mother’s drink and serve it to her.
The woman, who has an acrimonious relationship with the girl's natural mother, also told the child that she could kill her biological mother after she fell unconscious from the drink, though the woman did not think the child could actually do it.
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The woman, now aged 32, was sentenced to one year's jail on Thursday (Jan 12). She had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of causing hurt by means of poison.
She, the victim and the child, who is now 11, cannot be named due to a court order to protect the victim’s identity.
WHAT HAPPENED
The accused is a Vietnamese housewife married to a 44-year-old Singaporean man, referred to as M1 in court documents.READ ALSO
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The victim is a 43-year-old Singaporean who was previously married to M1. They have a child together, referred to as F1 in court documents. F1 is the accused’s stepdaughter.
The victim and M1 had divorced in August 2017 and M1 later married the accused sometime in February 2018.
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As part of F1’s care arrangements, she would take turns staying with her grandparents, the victim as well as with M1 and the accused in their flat.
Court documents stated that F1 shared a close relationship with her stepmother, who treated her like a daughter.
However, the victim and the accused had a “highly acrimonious” relationship as the victim blamed the accused for the breakdown of her marriage.
The victim would occasionally send insulting text messages to the accused and post comments of a similar nature targeting her on Facebook, causing the latter to become increasingly stressed and angry.
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On Jan 4 in 2020, the accused asked her stepdaughter how she would address her in the presence of her biological mother.
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When the child responded that she would address the accused as “jie jie”, which means “elder sister” in Mandarin, the accused felt hurt and upset as she had treated her like a daughter.
She then threw a tantrum and told F1 not to speak to her anymore, saying that the child did not love her.
With this, F1 became distressed and asked the accused how she could make it up to her. However, the woman refused to speak to her and stayed in a room by herself for some time.
Still angered by her exchange with F1 and the previous insulting comments that the victim had directed at her, the accused floated the idea of getting the child to spike her mother’s drink with Bromalex.
Bromalex is used to treat conditions such as insomnia and anxiety.
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The accused had bought the tablets from a pharmacy in Vietnam as she was experiencing pain and had trouble sleeping after undergoing surgery sometime in late 2019.
But it was only several days later, shortly after Jan 4 in 2020, that the accused decided to follow up on her idea to get F1 to spike the victim’s drink and cause hurt to her by rendering her unconscious with Bromalex.
She crushed one tablet and placed the powder in a plastic packet before instructing her stepdaughter to spike the victim’s drink.
The accused also told her that F1 could kill the victim once she fell unconscious by either turning the victim face-down so that she would not be able to breathe, or by suffocating her with a pillow.
However, the accused did not think that the child could carry out these acts as she was still young and not physically strong.
Heeding the accused’s instructions, F1 kept the plastic packet in her bag until she stayed at the victim’s home on Jan 24 and Jan 25 in 2020.
However, the victim noticed the packet when she opened her daughter’s bag. Questioning her about the suspicious packet, F1 denied knowing what it was.
When the victim texted M1’s mother about it, the latter said that she did not know what it was as well, but told her to keep the powder as she would come to collect it from the victim.
The next day at about 5am, F1 woke up and told her mother that she felt thirsty. The victim then poured a cup of water for her.
Taking the cup of water, F1 poured some of the powdered Bromalex into the cup of water and asked the victim to drink it.
Noticing some foam in the spiked water, the victim emptied it thinking that F1 might have spat in the cup.
But F1 poured another cup of water and emptied more of the powder into it, asking her mother to drink it again.
After seeing a thin layer of powder at the bottom of the cup, the victim brought the cup to her mouth but did not drink the water as she suspected that the powder in the cup was the same one found in her daughter’s bag.
Her suspicions were confirmed after she checked the child’s bag and realised that the packet was no longer there.
When confronted by her mother, F1 finally admitted that the accused had made her spike the victim’s drink.
The victim then called the police and they seized a total of five items including the Bromalex tablets from the accused and the cup used during the spiking, court documents stated.
A report from the Health Sciences and Authority said that the tablets contained bromazepam, which can lead to effects such as sedation, impaired memory, and impaired co-ordinative skills when consumed.
According to court documents, it is a prescription medicine that is not available for purchase off-the-counter in Singapore as it has a reputation of becoming addictive to people taking it for some time.
"NOT EMPTY WORDS"
While delivering his sentence, District Judge Lim Wee Ming considered several aggravating and mitigating factors.He said that the tablets could have caused the victim to suffer serious consequences as she could have been injured in the course of her activities after consuming them.
Moreover, the accused had told the child that she could kill the victim. Although the accused had not genuinely believed that the child could carry out the acts, there was nothing to suggest that she did not take these instructions seriously, he said.
"The words that the accused spoke to the child were not empty words. In fact, she exerted such a strong influence on the child that she made not just one but two attempts to spike the victim's water."
For causing hurt by poison or stupefying substance, the woman could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined. Offenders can also be caned but women are exempt from caning.
