Remains found in Chin Swee Road flat: Couple to be charged with murder of their two-year-old daughter

The parents of a two-year-old girl whose remains were recently found in a Chin Swee Road flat will be charged with her murder, the police said yesterday.

The 31-year-old father and 30-year-old mother have been remanded since June last year for other offences but the case involving the child's death surfaced only last week, when the police received a call for assistance on Sept 10 from Block 52, Chin Swee Road.

Neighbours said a strong smell - with one describing it as "something rotting" - wafted through the corridor at least a week before the body was found in the unit.

When they arrived, the police found human remains inside a metal pot, The Straits Times understands. There were indications that the remains had been burned.

The couple are believed to be married with at least three children, and are the registered occupants of the flat where the remains were found.

Officers who visited the flat were seen leaving with a metal pot and a bag, reports said.

The police said that the couple are believed to have murdered the child before they were remanded last year. On Sept 9, the woman was sentenced to five years and two months in jail over drug-related offences.

Residents in the block said that a man in his 20s had been living in the flat on his own for the past three or four months, and a couple with children had lived there before him.

It is understood that a man was in the flat when police went down on Sept 10, but it is unclear how he is related to the couple who are expected to be charged today.