SINGAPORE - A woman accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter whose remains were found inside a metal pot five years later, is facing more charges including multiple counts of abuse involving four other children.
The 32-year-old woman and her husband, now 33, are accused of killing their daughter in a Chin Swee Road flat in March 2014. The toddler's remains were found in the pot in 2019.
Her case was mentioned in a district court on Friday (Feb 5). The couple cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the children's identities.
The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) on Friday applied for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal on her murder charge, after reviewing the facts and evidence of the case. This means she could still be prosecuted for murder in the future.
Her defence lawyer, however, objected to the application and sought a discharge amounting to an acquittal, which means she cannot be charged with murder again.
The woman's case has been adjourned to March 2. She faces a total of 12 charges, excluding murder, the AGC said.
As for the father, the AGC said it would be proceeding on the murder charge against him.
He also faces 13 other charges including child abuse, perverting the course of justice by disposing of and concealing the dead girl's body, giving false information to a public servant on her whereabouts, and drug consumption.
The woman allegedly ill-treated the little girl between June 1, 2013 and March 2014, by hitting her with a belt and a hanger, slapping her face and thigh, pinching her thigh and feeding her chilli padi as punishment.
She is also said to have ill-treated a six-year-old boy and another little girl, aged three, between 2013 and 2014.
She is accused of slapping the older girl's face and hitting her with a belt, a hanger and a cane. She allegedly hit the boy with a belt, a hanger and a cane, slapped and punched him, and fed him chilli padi and garlic.
There was a medical emergency involving her two-year-old daughter in March 2014 over the woman allegedly ill-treating her and failing to provide the toddler with adequate medical aid. Details about the emergency were not disclosed in court documents.
When the girl died, the woman and her husband allegedly burnt her body before concealing the remains inside a metal pot. According to court documents, the pot was "further encased" inside a sealed box and kept under a kitchen stove in the couple's flat.
She is also accused of ill-treating the older girl, the boy and two other children by leaving them inside the flat without adult supervision as well as adequate food and water from Feb 8 to 9, 2018.
The AGC said that that all four surviving children are hers.
The woman is also accused of lying to a Ministry of Education liaison officer in 2017 before giving false information to two Ministry of Social and Family Development officers the following year.
