Man who fractured skulls of baby daughter and toddler son loses appeal for shorter jail term

SINGAPORE: A man who fractured the skulls of both his two-month-old daughter and two-year-old son by shaking or shoving them has lost his appeal for a lower sentence.

In a judgment released on Thursday (May 30), the High Court said he should have received about five years' more jail instead. However, they allowed the original sentence of 10 years and four weeks' jail and 12 strokes of the cane to stand.

This was due to the fact that the prosecution had not appealed against the sentence, and because the case was the first of its kind to be examined by the High Court, with a new sentencing framework set out for future cases.

The Singaporean father of six, who is now 35, had been sentenced in August 2023 after pleading guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing grievous hurt against a person aged below 14 and one charge of lying to the police, with other charges taken into consideration.

He first shook his daughter until he fractured her skull and ribs in 2018 as he was frustrated with her cries, and then lied about how she got injured.

The baby was later placed in foster care following intervention by the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

But the man reoffended, exhibiting violence towards his two-year-old son in 2021 by shoving his head multiple times so that he fell down repeatedly, vomited and had seizures.

The victims were hospitalised, but survived. 

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the victims, launched a self-represented appeal asking for a more lenient sentence.

He said he loved his children and regretted his actions, asking for a concurrent sentence to be imposed, which would result in a shorter jail term.

FIRST SUCH CASE FOR HIGH COURT'S EXAMINATION

As this was the first case where the High Court had to consider the sentencing implications of Section 74B of the Penal Code - for offences against those aged under 14 - a three-judge court was convened to develop an appropriate sentencing approach for the offence of voluntarily causing grievous hurt against a person aged below 14.

Section 74B, which came into force in 2020, allows for a sentence for specific types of offences committed against victims younger than 14 to draw up to double their original penalties.

The three judges who reviewed the case - Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Tay Yong Kwang and Justice Vincent Hoong - laid out a new sentencing framework for such offences.

After applying the new framework to the man's case, the court found that a sentence of 15 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane would have been appropriate instead - an increase of about five years' jail.

Justice Tay, who delivered the verdict, said: "The appellant said that he was sorry and asked the court to give him a chance. He should be very sorry but there was no basis whatsoever for us to reduce the sentences he received or to order that one of the sentences run concurrently with the rest."

He said the final sentence imposed by the lower court was "therefore lenient rather than manifestly excessive".

However, as the prosecution did not appeal against the sentence, and because this appeal was the first before the High Court where a sentencing framework for such offences was examined, Justice Tay said "we decided to let the sentence imposed by the (lower court judge) stand".

The man had argued that he acted the way he did towards his son because of the boy's behavior, but the court said "the frustrations faced by a parent can never justify or excuse the abuse of their children".