A TODDLER drowned in a pail of water at home while his young mother slept, tired out after a night of clubbing.
Becoming a mother at 18 was tough
THE woman whose child drowned in a pail of water while she was asleep said she was 'very sad' about what happened.
But becoming a mother at the age of 18 was very difficult for her, said Ms Tan Siew Kim, now 20 and unemployed. She found it tough to let go of the lifestyle she led before becoming pregnant, and continued going clubbing almost every weekend.
'This tragic accident was contributed in part by the child being left in the care of an adult who was seemingly not able to take care of the child at the material time.'
Adrian Ong Jun Wei's father was out looking for a job when it happened. The child's maternal grandmother was also out - picking a gift for her grandson's first birthday.
At Tuesday's coroner's inquiry into the 11-month-old's death on May 7 last year, his father William Ong Hui Shang, 27, recounted how he had panicked when he got home and saw that his son was not on the mattress in the living room next to his girlfriend. She was still asleep.
Mr Ong found Adrian in the toilet, half-submerged in a pail of water. He pulled him out but the child was unresponsive.
He woke the child's mother, Ms Tan Siew Kim, 20, and the couple rushed the toddler to Raffles Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 1-1/2 hours later.
Mr Ong, a part-time coffee stall helper, said he had been living with Ms Tan for two years. Her mother, Madam Ong Hong Lian, 54, lived with them in the one-room flat at Block 4 Beach Road and helped take care of the child.
Mr Ong said his girlfriend came home at 5am or 6am on May 7 after a night out with her friends at a club.
Before he left at about 10am that day, he placed the baby beside her, tapped her, and reminded her to feed him.
When he got home at about 5pm and could not find Adrian, he called out his name. Mr Ong said he became hysterical when he found him in the pail of water and saw that the baby was pale and motionless. 'My mind was blank and I rushed out of the flat,' he said.
Just a month before, he said, his son had crawled to the toilet and stood up, holding on to the pail for support. He splashed the water in it before his mother carried him away.
Ms Tan said she did not remember how many drinks she had had that night, but claimed she was 'still stable' when she went to sleep.
Read the full story in The Straits Times on Wednesday.
