A man subjected his own children to long-term abuse for two years, with his 5-year-old daughter, Ayeesha, ultimately succumbing to his violence. The man, who was originally sentenced to 35 years in prison, appealed his punishment and was instead given a life sentence.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the 45-year-old defendant last year pleaded guilty in the High Court to six charges, including manslaughter, child abuse, and destruction of evidence. He was initially heavily sentenced to 34 and a half years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane. However, due to a diagnosis of degenerative disc disease and nerve compression—which made him unfit for caning—the High Court ordered an extra six months in prison in lieu of corporal punishment.
The defendant subsequently appealed the sentence and the decision to add six months in place of caning. The appeal was heard on the 11th.
● Lawyer: Defendant is Actively Reforming Himself
The defense lawyer argued that the defendant originally faced a murder charge, but after the prosecution reduced it to manslaughter during the trial, the defendant chose to plead guilty. While in custody, he had also been actively working to reform himself, participating in workshops and courses. In addition, he later confessed all his crimes to the police. Therefore, the lawyer appealed to the judge to reduce his sentence to between 25 and a half years and 30 years.
The prosecution, however, argued that when a case is serious enough, a guilty plea cannot outweigh the importance of punishment and deterrence. Moreover, after killing Ayeesha, the defendant attempted to cover up his crimes and only confessed to the police when confronted with evidence, showing no remorse.
The judge rejected the appeal and revised the sentence to life imprisonment, with the additional six months in place of caning to remain unchanged.
● Defendant Skilled in Martial Arts, Treated Daughter Like a Punching Bag
The child abuse case occurred between 2015 and August 2017 in a one-room public housing flat. The girl, Ayeesha, and her younger brother were abused by their father for two years. The defendant’s abusive acts, in collusion with his wife, included forcing the children to remain naked and confined in the bathroom, giving them only two meals a day, leading the siblings to eat their own feces and stuffing from mattresses out of hunger.
The defendant, who has a background in martial arts, would frequently punch and kick Ayeesha, even strangling her and grabbing her by the hair to lift her so that her feet left the ground.
The court was shown CCTV footage of one instance where the defendant abused Ayeesha. In the video, the defendant's actions were as proficient as a trained boxer, his punches swift and powerful, treating Ayeesha like a human punching bag. She was struck a total of 86 times in just 16 minutes. Forensic analysis determined Ayeesha’s cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head.
Because the defendant's crimes also involved the underage son, the court initially barred the media from publishing any details that could reveal the identities of the victims or the defendant. However, the judge later amended the reporting restriction, allowing the media to report Ayeesha’s name so that people could remember her.