“This is probably one of the worst case of child abuse!”, said the prosecutor.
The couple from Singapore, Ridzuan Mega Abdul Rahman, 28 and Azlin Arujunah, 27 repeatedly splashed hot water on their 5-year-son until the boy died from his scald injuries were sentenced to jail on Jul 13.
The couple had splashed hot water on the boy on 4 occasions and took him to hospital 7 hours after he collapsed on the last incident. He died from horrific scald injuries, covering about 75 % of his body, on Oct 23.
The pair also committed other acts of abuse against the boy, including confining him to a pet cage, pinching him with a pair of pliers, hitting him with a broom and burning his palm with a heated spoon, reported by Straits Times.
The Judge, Valerie Thean said the cage incident was “extremely cruel”, given the exposed wiring of the cage – which measured 91cm long, 58cm wide and 70cm tall – and its relative size to the 1.05m-tall boy.
The boy, who was fostered out shortly after his birth and lived with another family until he was four, was returned to the couple in 2015.
Prosecutor also said that the boy was in pain for a week and “suffering a fate worse than death”, but the parents persisted in abusing him instead of seeking medical attention.
Both the parents were sentenced to jail. The father was given 27 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane, while the mother was also sentenced to 27 years’ jail, with an additional one-year term in lieu of caning.