SINGAPORE — Angered after an argument with his estranged wife, a man told his daughter to consume sleeping pills to spite the woman, landing the 11-year-old girl in the hospital for more than a month.
Upon visiting his daughter in the hospital, the man instructed his daughter to say that she had consumed the pills of her own volition in order to commit suicide.
The 40-year-old man pleaded guilty to one count of perverting the course of justice, one count of ill treating his daughter, who is now 14, and one count of using abusive words on a police officer in an unrelated incident. Three other charges will be considered for his sentencing, which has been adjourned to 9 December for his lawyer to obtain a medical report on the man’s mother.
None of the parties can be named due to a gag order.
As the man had ongoing marital disputes with his wife, he lived separately from her, but stayed with his mother, his daughter, and nine-year-old son. On the evening of 7 April 2018, the victim was feeling unwell and sent a message to her mother, asking her mother to bring her to the doctor.
As the mother wanted to avoid the man, she asked her daughter to take a taxi over to her flat instead. The victim chose not to do so and remained at her Toa Payoh flat.
That evening, her father called the mother and the two quarrelled over the phone.
After the quarrel, the agitated father called his daughter into his bedroom. He made her retrieve a bottle of sleeping pills that had been prescribed to his mother. The pills contained Amitriptyline, which was considered a poison under the Schedule of Poisons Act.
After the girl did as she was told, her father instructed her to eat the pills. Feeling overwhelmed, the girl consumed six pills. She was then told to go to the playground outside her flat.
Man wanted to blame girl’s mother for daughter’s state
While at the playground, the man told his daughter he wanted to show her mother that their arguments had caused the girl to be stressed, and that the mother was at fault for not properly caring for her child.
The father asked the girl to consume several more pills, and she did so.
The girl soon felt weak and sleepy and later lost consciousness. The man and his son then took the girl to her mother’s flat. While en-route, the father called the 995 for assistance.
The trio reached the mother’s flat at about 3.45am on 8 April. When the mother opened the door to the flat, she saw her daughter lying on the floor just outside the door.
“The accused then said to (the mother) that she would be answerable if anything happened to the victim,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Phang told the court.
An ambulance arrived soon after and conveyed the girl to the hospital. A medical report issued later diagnosed the girl with a Amitriptyline overdose. She had arrived at the hospital drowsy. A police report was lodged via the Singapore Civil Defence Force. It stated that a 12-year-old girl took pills and attempted to jump at a Woodlands flat.
She was warded for a month and a week. During her hospital stay, she was instructed by her father to lie to the police that she had voluntarily consumed the pills to commit suicide.
Following his instructions, the girl told a police officer that she ate the pills as she felt that no one in her family cared for her, and that she had tried to kill herself. The police officer – investigating the girl for attempted suicide – recorded her words in a statement while her father was present beside her.
On 16 June 2018, the police told the girl that no further action will be taken against her. However, the father’s actions came to light in August 2018 when the girl spoke to social workers about the incident.
Separately, the man was seen outside a toilet having a picnic and “taking some rolled substance” at Changi Beach Park on 2 January last year. Police investigating the incident approached the man to ask for his NRIC and number. The man reacted in a hostile manner, shouting at the officer, “Of course I can remember, you stupid ah? You got your f**king brains or not? Can don’t ask stupid question?” He then shouted his number at the police officer.
After screening the man’s particulars, the officer found that there was an outstanding warrant of arrest issued against the man. The man was then arrested.
https://sg.yahoo.com/news/man-made-daughter-eat-sleeping-pills-spite-estranged-wife-031456040.html
