A woman who fatally stabbed her elder daughter 76 times after hearing voices telling her that the eight-year-old was an evil spirit will be confined i
A woman who fatally stabbed her elder daughter 76 times after hearing voices telling her that the eight-year-old was an evil spirit will be confined indefinitely.
On Tuesday (Sept 20), the High Court determined that the 36-year-old woman, who cannot be named due to a gag order, killed her daughter on August 10, 2021, at a residential unit in Geylang. Despite the severity of the crime, the court acquitted her of the murder charge because of her mental incapacity.
Diagnosed with schizophrenia, the woman was found to be of unsound mind at the time of the killing. According to reports, her untreated schizophrenia had led to her first episode of psychosis, distorting her judgment so severely that she was unable to distinguish between right and wrong.
Mental Health and Court Ruling
The court ordered that the woman be held in prison under safe custody, pending further decisions from the Law Minister. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, individuals acquitted on the grounds of mental incapacity are confined to a psychiatric institution, prison, or another suitable place of safe custody at the discretion of the President.
The woman will undergo regular reviews of her mental state before any potential discharge. The reports from the Institute of Mental Health revealed that her schizophrenia had been untreated for years, and the psychosis that led to the killing was her first major episode.
Background Leading to the Tragedy
The woman had two daughters with her boyfriend, who returned to China in 2014. From 2018 to 2020, her family members noticed increasingly strange behavior, including paranoia about being followed, hacked devices, and suspicions that her food and water were being poisoned. By March 2021, the woman began hearing voices that urged her to harm herself, her family, and ultimately her elder daughter.
In the days leading up to the tragic incident, surveillance footage showed the woman behaving erratically at various MRT stations. On August 8, she was seen tapping her card in and out of MRT stations repeatedly and moving between locations in a disoriented manner.
The Day of the Incident
On August 10, the woman was with her daughters in their shared room when her niece overheard her speaking incoherently about Chinese historical figures, followed by the sounds of her daughters crying. When the woman’s brother entered the room, he found the elder daughter motionless on the floor, while the woman stood naked, holding a pair of scissors. A bloodstained knife was also found at the scene.
The brother immediately grabbed the younger daughter and secured her in another room while his wife called the police. The woman, still in a state of incoherence, dropped the scissors when the police arrived and walked towards them, mumbling.
The elder daughter was rushed to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital but died from her injuries. An autopsy revealed 76 stab wounds on her body, with fatal injuries to the neck and torso.
Hope for Recovery
The woman’s lawyer, Ms. Choo Yean Lin, expressed hope in court that her client will recover from her mental condition and eventually reunite with her family, including her parents and younger daughter.
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