Father in Chin Swee Road death to be charged with murder of Toddler found in cooking pot

According to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), they were set to proceed with murder charges against the 31-year-old father of the two-year-old girl whose remains were found in a cooking pot in a Chin Swee Road flat.

The AGC said it applied “discharge not amounting to an acquittal” of the murder charge against the mother, 30, of the victim.

According to a report by Channel News Asia, the toddler was killed in March 2014, but the remains were found only on September 10, 2019, in a flat at Block 52 Chin Swee Road. What was left of the child’s body was found in a cooking pot. A male occupant with a mental disability was at the flat when the body was discovered.

A previous report by Alvinology said, “On September 10, at about 8:30pm, the police were alerted to a case of unnatural death at Blk 52 Chin Swee Road. Police investigations are ongoing.”

Her parents were charged with murder on September 17, 2019, and have been remanded since June 2018 for separate, unrelated offenses.

What happened to the toddler?

Alvinology previously reported on the case in 2019, neighbors reported a foul smell coming for the flat, when only a single male occupant with a mental disability was present when the police arrived. Reports said that he had an elder brother, but was currently in prison.

The police were called to the flat when neighbors reported a foul smell, and the investigation lasted hours until they emerged with a covered cooking pot. Initial reports mentioned that the contents of the pot was a cooked foetus.

Instead, investigations showed that the remains found in the vessel were that of a two-year-old who had been missing since 2014. The two-year-old was the daughter of the previous tenants of the HDB, who parents of the victim. The police began a search for them after inquiries to the neighbors were made. The identities of the accused and all of their details were concealed.

The couple had two other children, and authorities said that there were stable alternative care arrangements for them as the parents faced numerous court charges aside from the murder.

What did the parents do?

The same report from Channel News Asia said that the father faced 13 other criminal charges that include several counts of drug consumption, rioting, and failing to return to an approved institution.

The mother, on the other hand, faced 12 charges. Included in these were willful neglect to provide the victim with medical aid, abuse of three children, and perversion of the course of justice by disposal and concealment of the deceased’s body.

She was also charged with lying to authorities about the victim, and neglecting four other children. She allegedly left them without adult supervision, with inadequate food and water over two days.

These charges would be stood down or postponed, to be revisited at a later time, with the murder charge moving up to the fore. The prosecution may visit the other charge later, to withdraw them or to take them into consideration for sentencing.

If the father was found guilty of murder with common intention, he could be sentenced to death or life imprisonment with caning.