A part-time furniture mover struck his girlfriend's three-year-old son so hard, the toddler went into a coma and died five days later from traumatic head injuries.

On Monday, Muhammad Raffiq Jaffah, 25, pleaded guilty in the High Court to a charge of culpable homicide for killing Danish Iman Jaffah in December 2010. He also pleaded guilty to abusing the child on two previous occasions - placing a heated cigarette lighter on the boy's body and caning him with a clothes hanger - as well as unrelated charges of rioting and driving under disqualification.

Danish Iman was the child of his 24-year-old cousin and girlfriend, Ms Nurul Jannah Jasman, from her previous relationship. Ms Nurul Jannah, a bartender's assistant at a nightclub, would leave the boy in Muhammad Raffiq's care whenever she had to work or run errands.

Muhammad Raffiq will be sentenced on May 14. Prosecutors are seeking at least 14 years' jail and 10 strokes of the cane.