On 1 August 2014, four-year-old Mohammad Airyl Amirul Haziq Mohamed Ariff was hospitalized for severe brain injuries and he died four days later in spite of medical treatment.

Airyl's 32-year-old mother Noraidah Mohd Yussof was arrested and charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt, which was upgraded to murder upon the death of her son.

The case of Airyl's death led to Court of Appeal to request that the government provide them with more discretion to impose enhanced sentences for crimes against young and vulnerable victims.

Four months later, Noraidah moved in to live with the relatives and her son, but there were no further reports of child abuse, so the CPS closed the case on 5 February 2014.

Suspected of a lie, Noraidah was arrested for causing hurt to her son, who was later warded at KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

Veteran criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan, who was notable for representing infamous wife-killer Anthony Ler, was engaged by Noraidah's family to defend her in her murder trial.

On 28 March 2016, Noraidah pleaded guilty to two counts of causing grievous hurt and another two counts of ill-treatment of her son; the possible punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt, which under the Penal Code warrants a jail term of up to ten years with caning, while the ill-treatment of a child, which came under the Children and Young Persons Act, warrants a maximum jail term of four years with a possible fine.

Dr Sajith even brought up the fact that Noraidah had won a secondary school modelling contest, which he used to support his rebuttal of the defence's contention.

The defence asked for less than ten years' imprisonment, and cited that while the death of Airyl was a sad case, Noraidah had gone overboard as a result of coping with multiple stressors, notably her divorce and later break-up from her former boyfriend, and the financial burden she had to feed the family and pay for her mother's treatment.

These were factors that weighed in Justice Lee's mind as he considered the appropriate sentence, and he also accepted that Noraidah was filled with regret for killing her son, and therefore decided to err on the side of leniency in spite of his criticism of the defendant for her conduct.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kow Keng Siong argued that the trial judge was wrong to consider Noraidah's personality aberrations as mitigating factors, as these were not part of a recognisable mental disorder.

DPP Kow also argued that the law should ensure that lenient sentences should not be imposed on people with an impulsive or aggressive nature, as it might potentially allow these offenders to have an excuse to "give in to their emotions and act out their frustrations without self-restraint".

DPP Kow also cited that Noraidah never showed any remorse for her actions, and she had earlier blamed her family for her son's death, claiming that this would not have happened if they also took care of Airyl.

Furthermore, the three judges admonished Noraidah for her utter lack of remorse and having inflicted "unspeakably severe" abuse on her own biological child, and stated her conduct overall was vicious and heinous.

The court also said that the judge had erred in accepting the personality aberrations and the financial woes of Noraidah during sentencing, as these are not justifications to explain her abusive behaviour towards her son.

If Noraidah completes at least two-thirds of her jail term (equivalent to nine years and eight months) with good behaviour, she was released on parole in April 2024.

In November 2017, after the Court of Appeal released their decision, they called for Parliament to provide them the power to enhance the punishment of child abusers by up to 1.5 times the maximum penalty proscribed, and this proposal was also made to address crimes that target other vulnerable victims like foreign domestic maids and the elderly.

[39] In 2018, the Parliament of Singapore decided to amend laws to allow for harsher punishments for offenders who commit crimes against vulnerable groups like children, domestic workers and disabled people (whether mentally or physically).

Under the amended laws, any convicted offenders can face up to twice the maximum punishment for whichever crimes are committed against these vulnerable groups.