Who to be blame then if the curious child was playing with the hot-temper father's cigarettes?! And how the hell was she able to do so in the first place?! Were the cigarettes kept so very much accessible by the late daughter?
A 28-year-old cleaner who was charged with the murder of his two-year-old daughter over cigarettes was convicted of culpable homicide instead on Wednesday morning.
On January 6 last year, Sallehan Allaudin went to the supermarket with his wife to shop for groceries.
He also picked up a Barbie doll as a birthday present for his daughter, Natalie Nikie Alisyia Sallehan.
But he arrived home to find Nikie playing with his cigarettes.
Enraged, he took her into the kitchen and proceeded to slap and punch her on her arm and back.
Nikie collapsed on the kitchen floor and died because one of her major veins, the inferior vena cava, ruptured.
This caused blood to collect inside her heart sac and prevent it from pumping.
Justice Lee Seiu Kin said on Wednesday morning in the High Court that while he finds that the injuries Sallehan inflicted on Nikie caused her death, he did not have the intention to cause the injuries.
However, Justice Lee said that Sallehan knew or reasonably ought to know that the injuries, given their quantity and severity, are likely to cause death.
So he decided to acquit Sallehan of murder but found him guilty of culpable homicide.
Sallehan will be sentenced at a later date.
From Channel NewsAsia, "Cleaner convicted of culpable homicide in death of 2-year-old daughter".
THE cleaner, who attacked and killed his 23-month-old daughter, was spared the death penalty on Wednesday when the High Court reduced his murder charge and convicted him for culpable homicide instead.
Justice Lee Seiu Kin held that the 27-year-old , who is not named in the judgement, had not intended to kill his daughter - a key factor in a murder charge.
The man will be sentenced next week and faces up to 10 years jail or caning or fine, or both.
The father of three had attacked the girl on the evening of Jan 6 last year at the family's Boon Lay flat.
He and his wife had earlier gone out that day to buy a birthday present for the girl, leaving her and her two younger sisters - one just over a year old and the other two months old - at home. When the couple returned, she was found eating and playing with her father's cigarettes.
He snapped, pulled her to the kitchen where he slapped, punched and kicked her till she turned blue. The blows that he landed on the 10-kg toddler were so heavy that the attack was akin to a 360kg man whaling on a 60kg man, but the man did not know this, said the judge.
An autopsy found she died of a rare rupture in a major vein that supplied blood to the lower part of her body.
Lawyer N. Kanagavijayan, argued that his client could not have forseen that his punches would result in a rupture of the vein.
From Straits Times, "Cleaner spared death penalty".
Update on 19/04/10: the monster is thrown to jail for six years. I'm disappointed. And what on earth is this part: "The convicted man could not be named to protect his children."? The article omits the name of the monster, alright. But why the name of his wife must be mentioned? Moreover, the previous articles (see above) have clearly mentioned the name of the culprit!!
IN A fit of rage, a cleaner punched and slapped his two-year-old daughter Nikie to death in a case of 'extreme violence' that caused her to suffer a tear in a major vein near her heart.
On Monday, the cleaner was jailed six years by the High Court after Justice Lee Seiu Kin felt the cleaner had done it in a fit of anger. The judge disagreed with the prosecution that the cleaner's actions were premeditated. Justice Lee said that there was no doubt that the father loved the girl, the eldest of his three children, all daughters.
On the day he hit the child, the man was returning home after buying her a present. When he saw her chewing on the tobacco from his broken cigarettes, however, his emotions boiled over. Just two days earlier, he had scolded her for doing just that, and he wanted to teach her a lesson so that she would not do it again.
The man's personal frustrations - his inability to support his family and insecurities about his wife's suspected infidelity - also tipped him over, said Justice Lee.
The accused was initially tried for murder but after the nine-day trial, he was found guilty and convicted of culpable homicide last month. His wife, Madam Rozanah Mohamed Yusoff, 25, told reporters that he was disappointed with the severe sentence. She has forgiven her husband and is looking forward to his return.
The convicted man could not be named to protect his children.
From Straits Times, "Father jailed for girl's death".
Update on 08/11/10: additional 4 years to the 10-year jail term. Somehow, I still feel it's not enough. Why can't we just hang this monster?!?!
Sallehan Allaudin, the father who caused the death of his daughter after she had played with his cigarettes was on Monday jailed for four more years.
He had been jailed six years in April but the prosecution on Monday successfully appealed against that sentence.
While an appeal judge took issue with the prosecution on the conduct of its case, the Court of Appeal upped Sallehan's jail term for "one of the worst cases" it had seen.
Sallehan had beaten his daughter to death on January 6, last year.
From Channel NewsAsia, "Man who beat daughter to death gets 4 more years' jail".
