SINGAPORE: The stepmother of two young siblings who were confined naked in a toilet for months was on Tuesday (Jan 7) charged with ill-treatment of the two children.
The woman’s five-year-old stepdaughter, Ayeesha, died of a head injury in August 2017 after her father smacked her face up to 20 times in the toilet and left her there.
The father pleaded guilty to culpable homicide and child abuse in the High Court last April. He was sentenced to 34-and-a-half years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane.
At the time, the prosecution said it would review the case against Ayeesha’s stepmother, who testified as a prosecution witness when the father was initially on trial.
Both the stepmother, 34, and the father, 44, cannot be named. This is due to gag orders to protect the identity of Ayeesha’s surviving younger brother.
At the State Courts on Tuesday, the stepmother was given four charges of ill-treating a child under her care together with her husband at the time.
Two of the charges are for barricading the two children in the corner of a room that measured 90cm by 90cm and had limited space for movement from February to October 2016.
The other two charges are for confining the two children naked in the toilet from October 2016 to Aug 11, 2017.
Ayeesha was fatally assaulted by her father on the night of Aug 10, 2017, and left in the toilet with her brother, who was almost four years old, until the next day.
The stepmother also faces two charges of giving false information to a public servant with the intent to cause him or her to use lawful powers to the injury of another person.
She indicated that she would plead guilty to the charges. She was given a date to do so on Feb 4, and remains out on bail of S$15,000 (US$11,000).
She faces a jail term of up to four years, a fine of up to S$4,000, or both punishments for each charge of child abuse.
The offence of giving a public servant false information with the intent to cause him or her to use lawful powers to the injury of another person carries up to two years in jail, a fine or both.
