Woman who killed 2-year-old daughter by throwing her on floor twice jailed 7 years
SINGAPORE — Upset with her two-year-old daughter, a woman picked the girl up by her armpits and flung her onto the ground.
The 30-year-old repeated the act moments later and even kicked the girl on her side.
The girl became brain dead and later died from her head injuries.
On Monday (4 November), the woman was jailed seven years after she pleaded guilty to one count of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
She cannot be named to protect the identities of her other children. Three of them are still in the care of the family, while one passed away in 2011 and another passed away in February 2018 - both from illnesses.
The mother of six was diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) after she was sent for psychiatric examination while in remand. She shared a two-room flat with her husband, a 41-year-old delivery driver, the two-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy.
On 9 April last year, her husband left home with the boy at about 7am, leaving the woman at home with the girl.
At about 1pm, the woman woke up and found the girl lying on the mattress in the living room and looking ill. She gave her a bath in the kitchen toilet before dressing her on a towel in the bedroom. However, the girl passed motion while she was being dressed.
Furious, the woman carried the girl back to the toilet to wash up, while traces of faeces dropped on the bedroom and kitchen floor. The girl cried after the woman scolded her.
After cleaning up the girl, the woman returned to the bedroom. But the girl remained in the kitchen crying, which angered the woman more. The woman pulled the girl into the bedroom by her hand and shouted at the girl to keep quiet, but she kept crying.
Mother threw her toddler onto ground twice: Prosecution
“The accused grabbed (the girl) by her armpits, lifted her up to shoulder level, and threw (her) on the floor forcefully. (The girl) landed hard head-first on the floor and cried even louder thereafter,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yihong.
The woman then told the girl to keep her toys in the living room. The girl walked to the living room slowly and appeared to be in pain, according to DPP Zhou.
When the girl cried again, the woman threw her down again in the same manner using “all her might”, said DPP Zhou.
The girl landed on her back and her head hit the floor, and she fell silent. Still furious, the woman kicked the girl on her left side forcefully.
Lied to husband that toddler was having fits
When the girl did not respond, the woman became alarmed and administered CPR on her. She called her husband to tell her that the girl was having fits.
When her husband returned home at 2.45pm, the woman maintained the lie about the toddler having fits. The woman showered, gathered the girl’s medical documents and the couple went to the hospital. The girl was bleeding from the mouth by then.
The hospital lodged a police report and the woman was interviewed twice on 9 April last year. She lied then, claiming that she had woken from a nap to find the girl having seizures. She claimed to have carried the struggling girl at shoulder level before losing her grip.
The woman claimed to be sick and was unable to hold onto the girl as she felt weak, said DPP Zhou.
The next day, the girl was revealed to have skull fractures, bruising at her stomach, pancreas, and splenic areas. The woman was again interviewed and denied causing any injuries.
She only came clean on 11 April.
On 14 April, the girl was declared brain dead. She was placed on life support for three more days until she died.
The girl’s cause of death was certified as head injury, involving multiple skull fractures consistent with blunt force trauma. She also sustained abdominal injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.
Calling for seven years’ jail, DPP Zhou described the attack as “vicious” and “unprovoked”.
Even though the woman was suffering from major depressive disorder, she was aware of the nature of her actions and had a presence of mind to lie to her husband and officers, DPP Zhou added.
Accused’s life “mired in tragedy” with deaths of two other children: lawyer
The woman’s lawyer Anand Nalachandran, spoke about the tragedies that the woman had faced in life.
“After a troubled childhood, our client hoped to create her own happy family. Unfortunately this was not to be. As she tried to build a loving home, she struggled under the weight of an undiagnosed psychiatric condition.”
The woman fell into bad company when she was young and tried to turn her life around when she became pregnant with her eldest child, the lawyer said in his documents. She struggled to raise her children while she was a full-time housewife.
Of her two other deceased children, one was an infant of four months who died from a viral infection while the other was premature-born child who succumbed to an illness, two months before the incident involving the two-year-old girl.
“Unaware of her underlying MDD, our client found herself trapped in a home riddled with tragedy, where she desperately tried to hold pieces of her life together,” Nalachandran told the court.
During the incident in April, the woman was suffering from a fever while nursing the girl’s illness. The stressful situation in dealing with the girl crying and defecating on the towel was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” said the lawyer said, who asked for not more than five years’ jail to be imposed on the woman.
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