Mum accused of murder gets discharge not amounting to acquittal | The New Paper
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Mum accused of murder gets discharge not amounting to acquittal

This article is more than 12 months old

A woman accused of killing her two-year-old daughter, whose remains were found in a metal pot five years after the alleged crime, has been temporarily let off the hook for murder.

The 32-year-old was yesterday given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for her murder charge. This means that she can still be prosecuted for the offence later if more evidence emerges.

She is still facing 12 charges, including multiple counts of abuse involving four other children. Her case is expected to be heard again on April 13.

She and her husband, 33, were charged in September 2019 for killing their daughter in a Chin Swee Road flat in March 2014. The toddler's remains were found in the pot in 2019.

They cannot be named to protect their children's identities.

The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said in a statement last month that the other four children are the woman's.

The AGC will be proceeding on the murder charge against the father, who faces 13 other charges including child abuse, perverting the course of justice by disposing of and concealing the dead girl's body, giving false information to a public servant, and drug consumption.

When the girl died, the couple allegedly burned her body before concealing the remains in a metal pot. This was encased in a sealed box and kept under the kitchen stove in the flat, according to court documents.

The woman is accused of ill-treating the girl as well as two of her other children between 2013 and 2014.

Among other things, she allegedly hit them with a belt and a hanger. She is said to have fed her two-year-old daughter and another child chilli padi and garlic as punishment.

She also allegedly ill-treated her surviving four children by leaving them in the flat without adult supervision and adequate food and water, from Feb 8 to 9 in 2018. 

This article first appeared in The Straits Times.

COURT & CRIME