Timeline: Killing of 2-year-old girl that went undiscovered for years, her remains left in a pot

SINGAPORE: For more than five years, the killing of two-year-old Umaisyah went undiscovered until her uncle opened a pot under the kitchen stove. 

Her remains were found in the pot, charred beyond recognition.

In September 2023, her father was sentenced to 21-and-a-half years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to her killing. He also admitted to rioting, ill-treating his stepson and taking a specified drug.

The girl's mother was given 14 years in jail on Feb 7, 2024, for abusing her children and perverting justice.

The parents cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the surviving children. But a High Court judge partially lifted the gag order, stressing that the victim's first name Umaisyah had to be published so she could be remembered.

Here is a timeline of events, according to court documents.

November 2011: Umaisyah, who was only three to four months old, was placed in foster care as her father was detained in a drug rehabilitation centre and her mother was assessed to be unable to take care of her.

Jun 18, 2012: The couple got married. They had four children, including Umaisyah. The mother had a daughter and a son from her previous marriage.

March 2013: The man started abusing his stepson. He would hit him with a belt, a hanger or his hand, slapping and punching the boy.

The woman started ill-treating her son, hitting, slapping and punching the boy. She would also feed him chilli and garlic as punishment.

Jun 1, 2013: Umaisyah was returned to the care and custody of her father and mother. She often cried and was not comfortable with her parents as she was not familiar with them.

Her father would hit her with a belt and hanger, slap her face and leg, cane her palm, punch her thigh and pinch her.

July and August 2013: Umaisyah's foster mother visited the girl. She noticed that Umaisyah had lost weight, become more withdrawn and was less communicative.

March 2014: Umaisyah's parents became upset with her as she was playing with her faeces after soiling her diaper. After she started crying, the woman slapped her cheek and flicked her lips.

Her father, who had taken methamphetamine, slapped her face. Umaisyah's legs went weak and her body started to lean to the right. She started gasping for air and suffered a seizure. 

After she stopped breathing, her father performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her but she did not respond. Her parents did not seek medical help after she died.

The couple tried to cover their tracks – they placed her body in a metal pot and set her body on fire. After that, they placed the pot in a cardboard box and sealed it with masking tape and cling film.

They lied about her whereabouts, claiming to some that she had returned to her foster parents and to others that she was being taken care of by her father's aunt in Melaka.

Oct 25, 2016: The man was admitted to a drug rehabilitation centre for consumption of methamphetamine. It is his second stint in a drug rehabilitation centre after he was admitted in January 2011.

2017: The woman started neglecting her young children. Case workers made five unannounced home visits that year. During the visits, no adult was at home. 

The eldest son told the case worker that his mother had left them unsupervised in the flat on previous occasions.

Mid-2017: Umaisyah's uncle tried to throw the box away as there were cockroach eggs in the cling wrap.

Her mother wrapped it with new cling film and warned him not to touch it again.

Sep 26, 2017: A case worker found that the eldest son - then 10 years old - was left alone to care for three younger siblings aged seven, three and two.

The eldest son told the case worker his mother had left them in the flat unsupervised on previous occasions. 

The case worker went through a simple safety plan with the boy and informed him to evacuate the flat with his siblings if there is an emergency, and to call a social worker and his mother.

November 2017: Father is released after his second stint in the drug rehabilitation centre. He had become estranged from his wife and no longer lived in the flat.

Nov 2, 2017: The case worker again found the 10-year-old son being left alone to care for his three younger siblings.

A day later, the case worker found the three-year-old and two-year-old at home alone. The older child let the worker into the flat, which was in a state of disarray. The kitchen windows were left open without any grilles. The main gate and door were unlocked and ajar.

He could not contact the mother and waited outside the flat for an hour and a half before she returned home. He then advised her not to leave her children unattended at home.  

December 2017: An officer from the Ministry of Education contacted Umaisyah's parents in December 2017 to check why she had not registered for Primary 1. Umaisyah would have been six years old and should have been registered to start primary school in January 2018.

Her mother lied that the girl had been taken away by her father, whom she was estranged from. Her father lied to the officer that the girl had been taken care of by his parents in Malaysia for the past three years and that he was unaware of her whereabouts.

Dec 21, 2017: Another case worker saw the eldest child cooking instant noodles for his siblings and himself. The children told the case worker they did not know where their mother was.

About a week later, a case worker found four children unsupervised at home.

January 2018: The eldest son and another child attended only two days of school in January 2018.

February 2018: Father absconded and failed to report to Lloyd Leas Community Supervision Centre.

Feb 9, 2018: During a house visit, a CPS officer observed that the four children were left alone at home. They asked the officer for water, as they did not have water since noon the day before. 

The eldest son told the CPS officer that they only had some sausages as there was no other food at home. Their mother had not returned home from the day before and the children did not know when she would be home.

The officer tried contacting her but was not able to reach her. The police were called at about 3.45pm as the officer assessed that the children had to be removed from the flat.

The mother eventually turned up that evening at MSF. She lied to two CPS officers that she only had six children, deliberately omitting Umaisyah.

During another meeting that month, she again omitted Umaisyah from her list of children, lying that she only had six children.

Apr 5, 2018: While on the run, the father committed an offence of rioting. He was arrested six days later on Apr 11, 2018, before being charged in court on Apr 13, 2018. 

He was remanded until Apr 20, 2018, for further investigations into the rioting offence before he was released on bail.

May 11, 2018: The man failed to turn up for a mention in State Courts, and a warrant of arrest against him was issued.

Jun 19, 2018: The man was arrested and he was found to have taken methamphetamine. 

August 2019: Umaisyah's uncle moved back into the flat while his sister - Umaisyah's mother - was in prison. 

He removed the cling wrap and opened the pot, finding a lump of black object that looked decomposed. When he told his sister about this, she told him to put the pot back under the stove and warned him against touching it.

Sep 9, 2019: The uncle showed his sister's friends the contents of the pot after they went to the flat with him. They felt uneasy about seeing the burnt items in the pot.

Sep 10, 2019: The friends reported the matter to the police.

Sep 19, 2023: The man is sentenced to 21-and-a-half years' jail and 18 strokes of the cane.

Feb 7, 2024: The mother is sentenced to 14 years' jail for abusing her children and perverting justice. 

The charges taken into consideration include lying to a Child Protection Service officer that she had six children when she had seven, deliberately omitting Umaisyah.