Warning: This article contains facts of mistreatment which readers may find threatening.
SINGAPORE: A two-month-old child died after enduring days of mistreatment by her own parents, culminating in fatal head injuries inflicted by her mother.
On Jan 13, 2023, Zabelle Peh Yu Xuan was pronounced brain dead after acts of blunt force injury to her head, caused by her mom, Sim Liang Xiu.  ,
When examined, Zabelle was found to have healed bones sustained over the course of her short life.
Sim, 31, and her husband, Peh Wei Jian, 34, were each sentenced to jail on Wednesday ( Apr 2 ) over the death of their biological daughter.  ,
Sim received a jail term of eight times, while Peh was handed seven times.
While she originally faced a command of death, Sim, who has been diagnosed with post-natal despair, pleaded guilty to a lesser cost of criminal homicide not equivalent to death.  ,
Peh pleaded guilty to failing to take steps to protect Zabelle.  ,
Each also had one cost of ill-treating Zabelle taken into consideration for their punishment.  ,
The child’s abuse of Zabelle began soon after her baby on Nov 6, 2022.
Sim slapped her child, pulled and bit her left arm, and firmly dropped her into the bed, while , Peh strongly pushed a milk jug into Zabelle’s teeth, pinched and slapped her, and threw her into the cot.  ,
According to court records, Sim caused blunt force trauma to Zabelle’s brain on Jan 8, 2023 after becoming upset that the child had soiled herself.
The next day, Peh found the child indifferent after bathing her.
The pair called the hospital and the child was conveyed to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for emergency care.  , The doctor noted dried heart over her ears and that she had no signal.  ,
An X-ray of Zabelle’s stomach showed that she had a collapsed returned lung with liquid, and a twisted higher left shoulder likely to be an old wound.  ,
Zabelle was afterwards conveyed to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. However, the baby showed no response to stimuli and had evidence of significant brain damage.  ,
No progress was picked up despite care and Zabelle was pronounced brain dying on Jan 13, 2023.  ,
During their care of the child, physicians found old accidents, including healed fractures on her breast and middle left shoulder bone.  ,
An examination found that Zabelle sustained a bone fracture and bleeding around her head, adding to her broad list of injury. The mother’s cause of death was determined to be from a head injury.  ,
However, the few sought to suppress their misuse by lying that Peh had dropped Zabelle while bathing her.  ,
PEH AWARE OF ABUSE
In court, the trial read out a series of messages exchanged between Sim and Peh, showing that Peh had been aware of the violence inflicted on his child.  ,
In these messages, Peh asked Sim not to beat Zabelle and “don’t make her bone fracture”, with Peh warning “if we keep like that beat her or what ( sic ), sure one day we go police station”.  ,
In her answers, Sim may often chastise Zabelle for crying, or may respond violently to Peh.  ,
In one message, she stated:” Dun ( sic ) act like you never abuse la I want to make her die also not your problem”.  ,
After the child’s imprisonment, Sim was assessed to possess post-natal despair which contributed to her infractions. Her situation was deemed to be an impairment of brain which” considerably impaired her mental obligation” for her actions.  ,
Peh was assessed to be of good head, although his report noted that he was diagnosed with mental impairment in 2009. Nevertheless, he did not meet the requirements for academic illness and does not have a mental illness.  ,
Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh highlighted Zabelle’s extraordinary youth and risk, and the child’s “pattern of violent conduct”.  ,
Pointing out that Zabelle’s older injuries, Mr Koh said:” It is surprising that such accidents can be found when the deceased is just two months old. The inference can be drawn that the injuries ( were inflicted ) close in time to her date of birth, as it has taken time to heal”.
These accidents indicated prolonged misuse over the course of Zabelle’s little life, he said. Mr Koh finally told the judge that the couple had referred to beating Zabelle when she was less than two months old.  ,
The prosecutors sought eight to nine times ‘ prison for Sim and seven to eight times ‘ prison for Peh.  ,
In prevention, Sim’s attorney Manoj Nandwani highlighted his lawyer’s history of depression, which existed before her present crimes.  ,
Sim’s earliest touch with the Institute of Mental Health had been in 2007 when she was 14, and she attempted murder in 2011, the prosecutor said.  ,
Mr Nandwani said Sim had instructed him never to subject to the lawyer’s proposed word.  ,
The lawyer even expressed Sim’s grief to the judge.  ,” Beyond any word, she will have to sit with, in her consciousness, the death of her own natural kid, which will be with her for the rest of her life”, said Mr Nandwani.
Sim and Peh, both attended court via videolink. While Peh appeared stoic throughout most of the hearing, Sim would at times show signs of emotion.  ,
Lawyer Ng Yuan Siang, who mitigated for Peh, said his client’s culpability was low, in part because he was physically abused by Sim during their time together.  ,
Peh was the sole breadwinner of the family who struggled to make ends meet, and was frequently away from home for work, Mr Ng said.  ,
Despite his domestic abuse, Peh did not retaliate and would even try to placate Sim, Mr Ng said.  ,
Mr Ng called the prosecution’s argument that Peh had done “practically nothing” to stop the abuse of Zabelle an “unfair characterisation”. He said Peh had told Sim to use less force or stop hitting the infant on at least seven occasions, and urged the court to impose three to four years ‘ jail on his client.  ,
Delivering the sentence, Justice Dedar Singh Gill noted that it was “difficult for a sentient person to fathom the cruelty inflicted on Zabelle”.  ,
The judge took into consideration Sim’s mental condition and her remorse, as well as her plea of guilt.
Justice Gill rejected the portrayal of Peh as a victim of domestic abuse and found that his culpability was high.  ,
Pointing out Peh’s own abuse of Zabelle, the judge said there was no indication that he carried out these acts due to his wife’s “dominance over him”, and added that there was no evidence to show that Sim was physically abusive.  ,
Peh’s messages to Sim asking her not to hurt the baby were “plainly inadequate”, Justice Gill said, adding that the defence’s proposed sentence for Peh was “manifestly inadequate” as it failed to take into account the seriousness of the offence and its aggravating factors.  ,  ,