A 38-year-old father from Singapore has been sentenced to eight months in jail following the tragic death of his 4-year-old son. The father’s strict action took a devastating turn when he forcefully tried to put a piece of chilli into his son’s mouth as punishment for lying about defecating while potty training.
Later, when the autopsy came, it revealed that the child’s airway was obstructed by the chilli, measuring 10 mm by 15 mm by 8 mm, which led to the untimely death of the little boy. Following the incident, a gag order was given to protect the privacy of his other children, according to Channel News Asia (CNA).
Reportedly, the incident happened after the father detected the smell of faeces and his son failed to notify him before relieving himself. When the father questioned the child, he denied defecating. Next, the man decided to discipline his son by making him eat the chilli.
As per CNA reports, the boy was lying down and refused to eat the spicy chilli. But the man didn’t stop there, he sat on a chair and tried hard to make the boy eat a chilli by putting it in his mouth forcefully. Later, he let the boy go when he felt it was going beyond his son’s teeth. However, the boy started running around the house, even pointed towards his throat and fell down.
When the mother saw his condition, she tried to help him by doing the Heimlich manoeuvre, but it didn’t make any difference. After calling the doctor, the father picked up his son and rushed to a nearby clinic to get help. Unfortunately, soon after arriving at the clinic, the child was pronounced dead at around 3:10 pm at Sengkang General Hospital.
In court, the man’s lawyer, Taufiq Suraidi, argued for a seven-month jail time, by presenting statements from his wife, who claimed that he loved all of his children. Taufiq highlighted that his client is a family man who prioritized his children’s well-being and claimed that the man was not abusive towards his children. The lawyer further explained that his client remained cautious during the incident. Instead of forcing the entire chilli, he only inserted a small part of it and stopped as soon as he felt the chilli was passing his son’s teeth.
Taufiq said, “All this shows that his sole intention in disciplining his son was only to teach him that lying is not a behaviour that should be carried out. This is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, I submit that the law must have its way. He has learnt most painfully from this incident and is unlikely to re-offend.”
Meanwhile, District Judge Ong Hian Sun stated, “This was indeed a sad case. It could have been prevented if you did not adopt such a method to discipline your child. This method of disciplining a vulnerable victim, or any such method should be discouraged at all costs.”
Following the tragic incident, the father became depressed and experienced suicidal thoughts.
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