Drugs behind heinous crimes in S'pore and abroad, says Shanmugam

Citing recent cases, he says country must do all it can to protect innocent lives

- Christine Tan

In Parliament on May 8, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam cited examples of how drugs were behind some heinous crimes in Singapore and in other countries.

He was delivering his ministerial statement on Singapore's antidrugs policy, and argued for the death penalty to continue to be used to deter drug abuse here.

He said Singapore was in the midst of a war on drugs, and must do all it can to protect innocent lives.

This was important, as there had been several recent cases where drug abusers committed horrific crimes.

METH ABUSER WHO BURNED DAUGHTER'S BODY IN A POT

Two-year-old Umaisyah was brutally assaulted to death by her father, a methamphetamine abuser, in March 2014.

The girl, who had three siblings, was abused by both her parents.

They cannot be identified to protect their surviving children.

The man had taken methamphetamine on the morning that Umaisyah died. He and his wife got upset with the girl for playing with her faeces after soiling her diaper, and they slapped her.

Prosecutors said the man's assaults caused significant traumatic brain injury, which led to a concussive seizure. After Umaisyah's lips turned blue, her mother tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her.

Worried that they would be arrested, the couple did not call for help and instead burned Umaisyah's body in a metal pot to cover their tracks. They then placed the pot in a box, sealed it and took it back to the flat.

Over the years, they lied to their family and the authorities about the girl's whereabouts.

The case was uncovered only five years later in 2019, when the woman's younger brother opened the box.

Umaisyah's father was sentenced to 212 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane for culpable homicide, while her mother was sentenced to 14 years' jail for ill-treating her children and perverting the course of justice.