On 11 August 2017, at an unspecified location in Singapore, a five-year-old Singaporean girl, whose first name was Ayeesha, died in her flat after being severely starved and abused by her birth father.
[1][2] In the middle of his murder trial, which began in May 2023, Ayeesha's father pleaded guilty to manslaughter and child abuse in April 2024, and was sentenced to 34 years and six months in prison and 12 strokes of the cane, which was widely reported as an “unprecedented” punishment ever imposed given the unprecedented level of cruelty and violence exhibited in the Ayeesha case.
[3] The jail term of Ayeesha's father was later increased to 35 years' imprisonment in July 2024 after he was found to be medically unfit to undergo caning.
From February to October 2016, the couple confined the two siblings in a designated naughty corner, which was a narrow space between a bookshelf and a wardrobe to prevent them from escaping, and a CCTV camera was also set up to keep the two children under surveillance.
One excerpt of the CCTV footage from Ayeesha's one-room flat also showed the two siblings wearing only their diapers when they were locked up in their former naughty corner prior to their confinement in the toilet.
[13] As a result of the ruthless and relentless attack, five-year-old Ayeesha was mortally wounded and she eventually died from her injuries.
Ayeesha weighed just 13.2 kg (29.1 lbs) at the time of her death, and she was reported to have sustained multiple scars, marks and other external injuries all over her body, and she was also severely malnourished.
Ayeesha's brother was not only discovered to be severely undernourished, he was also diagnosed with global developmental delay due to social deprivation.
An autopsy was carried out and it was certified that Ayeesha died as a result of a fatal head injury caused by blunt force trauma.
However, after the police gathered sufficient incriminating evidence that contradicted the man's story, Ayeesha's father eventually admitted that he was responsible for the injuries sustained by his daughter.
The trial was presided over by Justice Aedit Abdullah, and the prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Han Ming Kuang while Ayeesha's father was represented by Mervyn Cheong.
[23][24][25] Additionally, during the defence's cross-examination, Ayeesha's stepmother kept replying that she did not remember when she was asked about her indifference whenever she witnessed the abuse and the differences between her oral testimony in court and police statements.
Leong Hsiao Tung, an analyst of the Health Sciences Authority, presented a toxicology report, which showed that substances from anti-vomiting medication and anti-histamines were detected in both the urine and blood samples of Ayeesha.
The offender accepted the offer and hence, he no longer faced the death penalty for murdering Ayeesha; a manslaughter charge could carry the maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a possible fine or caning if convicted.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Norine Tan adduced the CCTV evidence to demonstrate the horrific abuse captured on camera, though condensed into several minutes of footage, was the same type of ill-treatment that the two siblings had gone through daily for the final two years of Ayeesha's life and its impact on the two children.
DPP Tan argued that the nature of the abuse "squarely falls within the worst of its type" and would "break the will of any human being", much less two extremely young kids in similar situations as Ayeesha and her brother.
Justice Abdullah stated that the father had inflicted not just physical abuse, but also emotional and mental trauma, and his actions were tantamount to the concept of a naughty corner being mutated into a device of torture.
The judge stated that the crime was exceptionally brutal and there was a "clear call for retribution" and need to show society's abhorrence towards the actions of the accused.
[46][47] Members of the public were also shocked at the brutality of the girl's murder, and some were so concerned that they expressed that there should be stricter measures required to address the phenomenon of child abuse.
On 23 September 2023, seven months before the sentencing of Ayeesha's father, CNA's reporter Alison Jenner wrote an exclusive article to touch on the subject of child abuse.
Jenner also stated it was the collective responsibility of every member of society to raise alarm and notice these cases and safeguard the children's welfare.
[50] During the same month when Ayeesha's father had his caning commuted, the abuse-cum-killing of Ayeesha was again mentioned in July 2024 when the offence of allowing the death of a child by abuse once again became a topic of public discussion, given that there were continually cases of one parent joining another in abusing their children, whether or not the outcome resulted in the death of the child.