A MAN force-fed his four-year-old son the tip of a chilli when the child lied after soiling himself, and the boy later fell unconscious and died.
An autopsy report revealed that the victim died of an acute airway obstruction by a foreign object, and the tip of the chilli was found blocking his air passage.
The 38-year-old father pleaded guilty yesterday to causing his son’s death by performing a rash act and was sentenced to eight months’ jail.
The man cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identity of the victim, who had young siblings.
The father of four was at home in his Sengkang flat on Aug 2, 2022, when he noticed that the victim reeked of faeces at around 1.50pm.The boy was undergoing toilet training at the time and was supposed to notify his parents if he needed to relieve himself.
When the child – identified in court documents as V1 – denied soiling himself, the father decided to discipline his son for the lie by making him eat chilli.
The man took a chilli from the fridge and broke off a small bit from the tip.
Deputy public prosecutor Sheldon Lim told the court: “V1 was lying on the floor. As V1 refused to eat the chilli, the accused sat on a chair over V1, who was lying on his back, and forced the chilli tip into V1’s mouth.“After the accused felt that his fingers had moved past V1’s teeth, he released the chilli tip.”
The victim started running around while gesturing at his throat. He vomited and collapsed soon after.
The man’s wife performed the Heimlich manoeuvre, which involves abdominal thrusts, on V1, but his condition did not improve.
The man also inserted his fingers into the child’s mouth in an effort to remove any blockages but failed to clear his air passage. — The Straits Times/ANN
