Warning: This report contains distressing details of abuse
SINGAPORE: Over almost his entire life, a baby was regularly abused by his parents, who smothered or shook him to stop him from crying.
He eventually died when he was eight months old, when his mother smothered and hit him before flipping him on his face.
His father did not want to incur ambulance costs so they took a taxi to hospital instead.
The parents, Chloe Gan Ci Xuan, 23, and Neo Jia Ming, 27, pleaded guilty on Monday (Oct 12) to various charges linked to the death of their son, Trevor Neo Yu Hin.
These included causing or allowing the death of a child, ill-treatment of a child and permitting the ill-treatment of a child.
Both Gan and Neo appeared in court in prison clothes. They were gaunt and sat at opposite ends of the dock without speaking to each other.
Gan started weeping when the prosecutor began talking about what she had done to her child. Neo remained expressionless.
They had married in August 2023, after Gan got pregnant with Trevor around April 2023. He was the couple's first child.
Gan moved out of her parents' house to stay with Neo, and she gave birth to Trevor on Dec 9, 2023.
She then moved back in with her parents, where she looked after Trevor with a confinement nanny.
After the confinement period ended in January 2024, Gan took Trevor back with her to live with her husband. They shared a flat with Neo's uncles.
From February 2024, the couple hired a nanny who cared for Trevor during the day on weekdays. Other relatives helped look after him on weekends.
Soon after moving back in with her husband, Gan realised she could make her child stop crying or faint by shaking him vigorously.
She had earlier seen her husband do this. Thereafter, the couple shook Trevor frequently to stop his cries.
In January 2024, Trevor was hospitalised for about a week after he lost consciousness following Gan shaking him.
Between April and August 2024, Gan assaulted her son by hitting his hand, chest, thigh and buttocks, leaving bruises.
She was frustrated that he was crying or would not sleep. Neo witnessed many of these episodes and did not intervene.
In May 2024, Gan's mother noticed bruises on the child and warned her daughter to stop hitting the infant.
Around April 2024, when Trevor was about five months old, Neo began covering Trevor's nose and mouth whenever he cried.
Trevor would then lose consciousness and stop crying.
Neo knew he was smothering the baby, but claimed this was the only way to put him to sleep.
He did this regularly, and his wife began following suit.
THE ABUSE
Initially, she covered his face with a blanket to muffle his cries, but when he became strong enough to pull it away, she began covering his nose and mouth with her hands and pressing down until he fainted.
The couple also abused the baby in other ways, such as by slapping his face forcefully, squeezing him so hard that his skin turned purple and hitting him.
Court documents detailed text messages exchanged between the couple after Gan shook her baby when he was about 41 days old.
In the messages, Neo told Gan not to be "very violent" in shaking the baby like Neo did, as it might "damage the brain" or he may "become autistic".
Gan replied that she nearly shook him "(almost) 180 degrees", and Neo replied with a smiley face: "Later stupid stupid only ma."
Gan later told Neo that Trevor did not drink any milk because she shook him until he was drained. To this, Neo asked her to "just monitor" and to use her own method instead of his method of shaking.
Sometime before Feb 18, 2024, Neo covered Trevor's nose and mouth with his hands for about a minute until the baby began vomiting milk and turning purple.
Fearing that the infant was going to die, Neo told his wife what happened and said that he did not want to take care of Trevor anymore, because he was afraid he would kill him.
Neo also told Gan to tell others that the bruises on Trevor's face were from Neo's phone falling on it by accident, and not because of his slaps.
Neo also pinched his son's fingers forcefully 20 to 30 times about two to three times a month, because he found the baby's reaction funny. His wife was there and did nothing to stop him each time.
Around Apr 2, 2024, Neo was taking Trevor to the nanny's house when the baby began crying.
To stop him, Neo put his hand into the baby's mouth and dug around, causing bleeding under his tongue.
The nanny later saw the bleeding and insisted that the baby be seen by a doctor.
The couple thus took the baby to KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) on Apr 2, 2024.
The doctor noted local trauma under the child's tongue, with redness.
The couple left the hospital with the child, and Neo admitted to Gan what he had done.
Around early August 2024, Neo told Gan not to hit the baby at all until after a doctor's appointment, or the doctor would see the bruises and accuse them of abuse.
FATAL ACTS
On Sep 1, 2024, the couple returned home after going out for dinner while Neo's uncles looked after Trevor.
The couple were using their phones in their room while Trevor was in his cot.
When Trevor cried, Gan felt frustrated as she could not sleep. She pressed a blanket over her son's face for close to a minute.
The boy struggled before slowing down, but started crying again when his mother lifted her hand.
Gan then repeated her actions until she felt her arm trembling.
As she was repeatedly smothering her baby, her husband looked at her and asked her: "How? You want the baby to die?"
He told her that if anything happened, they would go to jail.
Gan responded: "Wait for the baby to make noise first, then you try again."
After Trevor started crying again, Gan placed the blanket over his face and pressed down hard with her hands.
She used one hand to pound down upon her other hand, which was covering the baby's face, with such force that she felt the strength going out from her arms.
However, Trevor continued to cry.
Gan then flipped him over so he lay face down. He stopped crying and Gan went to sleep.
At about 11.30pm on Sep 1, 2024, Neo finished playing a mobile phone game and went to check on the baby.
He realised that the infant was not breathing and his hands were cold.
He woke Gan up and asked her to check on Trevor while he went to the toilet.
Gan realised Trevor was unresponsive, with an eye open and purple lips.
The couple attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the baby but to no avail.
Neo then told Gan to call a taxi instead of an ambulance as he did not want to incur the costs of summoning the latter, since it was obvious to him that the baby was dead.
On the way to KKH, Neo told Gan to keep quiet and not say anything. He said that if nothing happened, and the police did not get involved, they could continue living their lives and not worry about money anymore.
Trevor was pronounced dead at about 12.20am on Sep 2, 2024, at KKH. Police officers arrested his parents that same morning.
Neo also pleaded guilty to additional charges related to his abuse of Gan between February and August 2024.
He had assaulted her over an arcade game and, in a separate incident, punched her more than 10 times in the head over cereal.
He also assaulted his wife after reading a text she sent to someone saying she intended to divorce him.
Court documents detailed how each parent allowed the other to abuse Trevor.
Gan allowed Neo to abuse their child, such as by squeezing his hand until it turned purple and became bruised, or by hitting him.
Neo in turn allowed Gan to shake their son to make him sleep. He was also present in the room during the fatal acts but did not do anything to protect his son, instead focusing on his mobile phone game.
The couple was charged in September 2024. This was before a review panel found lapses and shortcomings among agencies that handled another fatal child abuse case.
Megan Khung had died aged four in February 2020 after being abused for more than a year by her mother and her mother's boyfriend.
AFTERMATH
A preliminary autopsy report stated Trevor's cause of death as cardiorespiratory failure pending further investigations.
However, the final cause of death was unascertained as there were no anatomical findings or injuries pointing to a definitive cause of death.
Further clarificatory autopsy reports stated that covering the mouth of the child could obstruct his nostrils and mouth, and placing him face down also posed a risk of obstruction.
Both situations could lead to a fatal outcome with suffocation and impaired respiration.
Gan was examined at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and was found not to be suffering any postpartum psychiatric disorder around March or April 2024.
She could have been suffering from an adjustment disorder at the time of the offence, which could have had a minor contributory link to the offence.
This assessment was based on information provided by Gan's mother, which suggested mood-related symptoms during her pregnancy and postpartum period.
She also had significant stressors such as work and financial difficulties. Gan also said she had negative emotions and felt frustrated and stressed in caring for Trevor, especially when she could not stop him from crying.
Gan was also physically assaulted by her husband, which would be an additional stressor.
However, adjustment disorder would not have impaired her ability to understand the risk of the actions she took.
An IMH clarificatory report later stated that most people facing similar stressors would not have presented with the negative symptoms and frustration Gan had endorsed in caring for Trevor.
The hearing continues.
Gan is represented by Mr Josephus Tan and Mr Cory Wong from Invictus Law, while Neo is defended by Mr Eugene Thuraisingam, Mr Johannes Hadi and Ms Seraphine Loh from Eugene Thuraisingam Asia.
The penalty for causing the death of a child is a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine or caning.
For ill-treating a child where death is caused, an offender can be jailed for up to 14 years, fined up to S$40,000 (US$31,200), or both.
If death is not caused, the maximum penalties are eight years, a fine of up to S$8,000, or both.
This is an ongoing story. Please refresh for updates.