Dad, 63, gets jail for threatening child protection officer, boys' home staff with knife over removal of his 2 kids

SINGAPORE — When four personnel including a child protection officer and employees from a boys’ home came to retrieve documents of two children who had been removed from his care, a knife-wielding father threatened to kill them all.  

The 63-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identities of his children, pleaded guilty to causing criminal intimidation and was sentenced to six months’ jail on Thursday (Feb 1).

Another charge of using threatening words was taken into consideration during sentencing. 

Sometime before the offence, the man’s two children were placed at an interim placement and assessment centre. Court documents did not disclose when or why they had been removed from his care. 

WHAT HAPPENED 

On Aug 24 in 2021, Ms Fu Jieyan, child protection officer from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), and her colleague Su Yunting arrived at the father's home.

The two women were accompanied by two staff members from Ramakrishnan Mission Boys’ Home where the man's son was residing: Mr Subramani Jayabalan, a senior supervisor at the boys' home, and Ms Amrita Das, a social worker.

The four were planning to update the father on his children’s well-being and retrieve documents such as his children’s birth certificates. 

The father did not respond when they knocked on the door and only told Ms Fu he was inside the house when she called him. 

When he finally opened the door, he was holding a kitchen knife around 30cm long in his right hand. With his left hand, he reached through the locked metal grill gate towards the group. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Phoebe Tan told the court that the father waved the knife and threatened to cut the four visitors, pointing at each of them with the other hand.

By sliding his thumb across his neck, he threatened to slit the throats of the visitors and boasted that he was not afraid of being caught by the police since he already had a criminal record and “did not mind being hanged after killing all of them”. 

This went on for about 15 minutes, during which the father threatened to “come after them” if his son was not returned, the court heard. 

Court documents did not state why he was singling out one of his two children nor did they indicate the gender of the other sibling.

Mr Subramani from the boys’ home eventually managed to convince the father to put down the knife on a stack of plastic drawers right outside his main door. 

As he became more emotionally volatile and continued to threaten the group, they left without obtaining the documents.

The next day, his son ran away from the boys’ home and was found by the police at the man's residence. 

The father agreed for Ms Fu from MSF to pick up his son on Aug 27, 2021.

However, on the agreed date, when she called out to the father and son at the void deck of the housing block where they lived, the father threatened to “beat her up” if she were to “take his son away”.

He also told Ms Fu that he would kill himself and his son if the child protection service insisted on removing his son from his care. 

Ms Fu made a police report on Sept 8, 2021, stating what had happened during the home visit, where she said that the father had also threatened to strangle them to death.

She added that the father had, over the phone, also threatened to harm her by going to her office “to hit her”.

EMOTIONALLY 'DYSREGULATED'

The prosecution sought a sentence of eight to 10 months’ jail, pointing out that there were four victims who were affected in the course of their work and that it was not a short encounter. 

DPP Tan said that the father had not only used a weapon, but also boasted about his past criminal record and his lack of fear towards authority in order to appear threatening to the victims. 

Public defender Vadi PVSS, who represented the man, argued that this was not a “run of the mill case” but rather one of a “helpless father” whose emotions were "dysregulated" at the time. This means his emotions were outside the usual range.

He sought a lighter sentence of four months on the basis that the man was “blabbering” and “spouting empty threats without malice”.

Mr Vadi argued that the father had had an “emotional outburst” while under the impression that his son might be hurt.

He also said that the father's criminal record consisted of “dated” offences that were irrelevant in the current case. 

In response, DPP Tan said that notwithstanding his emotional state, there was no excuse for the offence of waving a knife and threatening the public servants. 

She added that the father was not simply blabbering since only the four personnel were present outside his house and at least one victim was “sufficiently alarmed” by his threats. 

In sentencing, District Judge Brenda Chua said that it “should not be taken lightly” that the charge taken into consideration for sentencing of using threatening words was committed a few days after the house visit. 

The judge acknowledged that the father's previous convictions occurred more than 20 years ago, but noted that his prior offences such as threatening a public servant and being armed with a dangerous instrument were similar to the case at hand. 

Anyone who commits the offence of criminal intimidation by threatening to cause death or grievous hurt can be jailed for up to 10 years.