A two-year-old boy suffered excruciatingly at the hands of his own mother and her boyfriend for five weeks before eventually dying from the insane amount of abuse.
Mohamed Daniel Mohamad Nasser was pronounced dead on the morning of November 23 last year, after failed attempts to wake him up. His mother — 41-year-old Zaidah — and her boyfriend — 46-year-old Zaini Jamari — did not even bother to call for an ambulance, leaving their flatmates to request for medical assistance.
According to various media reports, both were convicted of dozens of ill-treatment charges under the Children and Young Persons Act in court yesterday, including one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt that resulted in the boy’s death.
The physical savagery they dealt upon Daniel was depressingly inhumane. Living in a one-room flat in Telok Blangah with their one-year-old daughter as well as their landlord and landlord’s niece, the boy endured punishments and beatings by the couple every day for over a month.
The abuses began from Oct 18. The inhumane treatment included:
- Being forced to stand for long amounts of time
- Not given clothes to wear, and only wearing diapers
- Getting slapped in the face when he could no longer stand
- Verbal abuse
- Repeatedly kicked in the stomach, back and ribs
- Slapped until his mouth bled
- Getting his chest stamped on
- Force-fed spoonfuls of dried chilli
- Pinched on his body and cheeks
- Hitting his head when he fell
It was the morning after he hit his head that Daniel could not be woken up. When paramedics arrived, Zaidah lied that the boy had a habit of pinching himself. Police interviews saw the couple claiming that the boy had fallen on the toilet floor, causing the bump on his forehead. He was pronounced dead at Singapore General Hospital, an hour after he was conveyed there.
In court, the couple were noted to have previous criminal convictions including morphine abuse, housebreaking and theft. Both had the gall to plead for leniency and promised not to commit the offence again.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Claire Poh called the crimes “horrific and inhumane”, comparing the defenceless two-year-old’s living conditions to that of “a concentration camp”. They’ll be sentenced on July 5.
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