SINGAPORE; A couple who repeatedly abused their eight-month-old son, Trevor Neo, throughout most of his short life were sentenced to lengthy jail terms by the High Court on Oct 21.
The baby’s father, Neo Jia Ming, 27, was sentenced to 16 years’ jail, while his mother, Chloe Gan Ci Xuan, 23, received 15 years and three months’ jail.
The prosecution had sought at least 15 to 16 years’ jail for Neo and at least 14 to 15 years’ jail for Gan.
The married couple each pleaded guilty on Oct 12 to three charges relating to Trevor’s abuse.
Gan faced a charge of causing Trevor’s death, while Neo faced a charge of allowing his death. Both were also charged with ill-treating Trevor and knowingly permitting the other to ill-treat the child.
Neo faced an additional domestic abuse charge for repeatedly assaulting Gan.
Trevor died after Gan smothered him, hit him in the face and turned him face down on a mattress to stop his cries on the night of Sept 1, 2024.
Neo, who was in the room playing a game on his mobile phone, did not stop her.
In sentencing the pair, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng said: “Notwithstanding their youth and inexperience, the accused persons must be held fully accountable for their cruel acts.”
The judge said that, contrary to the defence’s argument that the young couple had been overwhelmed by the task of caring for the baby, Gan and Neo had strong family support and a nanny to help look after Trevor.
The judge said: “Yet, in an exchange of text messages on Jan 18, 2024, the couple, especially Mr Neo, made light of their physical abuse of Trevor, and the potential detrimental consequences to Trevor. They continued with the abuse thereafter.”
The judge said that while Gan ultimately committed the fatal acts, Neo, who was the older adult in the marriage, was aware of the significant risk posed to the baby.
“In Mr Neo’s completely self-centred way, he simply did not wish to be inconvenienced by having to care for Trevor. That night, he continued to play games on his mobile phone and offered no assistance to Ms Gan,” she said.
The judge added: “Not only did he fail to intervene when he had every opportunity to do so, he also encouraged Ms Gan to ‘wait for the baby to make noise first then you try again’. His conduct was reprehensible.”
The judge compared Neo and Gan’s actions with those of the couple in the case of four-year-old Megan Khung.
Megan’s mother, Foo Li Ping, was sentenced to 19 years’ jail, while Foo’s boyfriend, Wong Shi Xiang, was sentenced to 30 years’ jail and 17 strokes of the cane.
On Oct 21, Gan, who is petite and has a bob haircut, exchanged a few words with her lawyer, Josephus Tan. She did not speak to or look at Neo.
Her parents and Neo’s mother were in court. They briefly locked eyes with their children before looking straight ahead and waiting for the case to begin.
Gan and Neo abused Trevor by shaking him or covering his mouth and nose to stop him from crying.
Gan also hit the infant on numerous occasions, leaving bruises on his body.
Neo slapped Trevor, dug his fingers into his son’s mouth and hit him. He also repeatedly pinched Trevor’s fingers to provoke a reaction from the baby, which he found funny.
The couple exchanged messages about the abuse and joked about how shaking Trevor could cause brain damage.
Trevor was pronounced dead at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) at about 12.20am on Sept 2. The couple were arrested after hospital staff lodged a police report.
An autopsy could not determine the definitive cause of death.
The court was told on Oct 12 that Gan moved out of her parents’ home to live with Neo in his Hougang flat after discovering she was pregnant in April 2023.
The couple married on Aug 2, 2023, and Trevor was born on Dec 9 that year.
After being discharged from hospital following the birth, Gan stayed at her parents’ home and cared for Trevor with the help of a confinement nanny. Neo stayed there for two weeks.
In January 2024, the couple and Trevor moved back to Neo’s flat, where two of his uncles also lived.
From February 2024, the couple hired a nanny to look after Trevor during the day on weekdays. Other relatives helped care for him at weekends.
The couple frequently shook Trevor vigorously to stop him from crying.
On one occasion, when Trevor was about 41 days old, Gan shook him while Neo was at work.
She went back to sleep after Trevor became unconscious.
Later, when Trevor did not respond as she tried to feed him, she exchanged text messages with Neo about the incident.
Trevor was hospitalised for observation from Jan 18 to 23, 2024. No injuries were found.
Neo once covered Trevor’s nose and mouth with his hands for about a minute, until the baby vomited milk and turned purple.
After the incident, Neo told Gan he no longer wished to care for Trevor because he was afraid he might kill him.
Neo continued to abuse Trevor in this manner every day for two weeks in April 2024.
Gan soon followed suit. Initially, she covered the infant’s face with a blanket to muffle his cries.
By May 2024, when Trevor could pull the blanket away, she put her hands over his nose and mouth and pressed down on his face to make him lose consciousness.
Gan also hit the baby whenever she became frustrated when he cried or did not fall asleep.
In May 2024, four months before Trevor died, Gan’s mother noticed bruises on his body and warned Gan not to hit the baby again. Gan ignored the warning.
On March 5, 2024, Neo slapped Trevor, leaving bruises on his face.
He texted Gan, telling her that if anyone asked about the bruises, she should say he had accidentally dropped a phone on the baby’s face.
On one occasion, while taking Trevor to the nanny’s home, Neo put his hand into the baby’s mouth and dug around until the child bled under his tongue.
When the nanny asked what had happened, Neo said he did not know.
At the nanny’s insistence, Neo and Gan took Trevor to KKH on April 2, 2024. A medical examination noted redness under his tongue.
On Aug 2, 2024, Neo texted Gan, telling her not to hit Trevor until Tuesday to avoid leaving bruises, apparently because they were taking the baby to a doctor.
Neo also physically abused Gan between February and August 2024.
He punched her back several times at an arcade in Kallang Wave Mall because he was angry that she had played a game on her own, despite his wanting to play with her.
He also punched her stomach and thigh at a bus stop after she accidentally led them onto the wrong bus. The couple were on their way to pick Trevor up, carrying their luggage after returning to Singapore from an overseas trip.
On another occasion, he punched her head more than 10 times after she used lukewarm water instead of hot water to make cereal. He was angry that she had taken time to think about how to throw the cereal away.
On the evening of Sept 1, 2024, Gan pulled a furry blanket over Trevor’s face and repeatedly pressed down to stop him from crying.
While doing so, she asked Neo: “How? You want the baby to die?”
She also remarked: “If anything happens, we will go to jail.”
When Trevor started crying again, she covered his nose and mouth with both hands, one on top of the other, and pressed down hard. She then pounded her right hand, which was covering Trevor’s face, with her left fist.
She then turned Trevor over so that he was lying face down and left him in that position before going to sleep.
At about 11.30pm, after Neo finished playing his mobile phone game, he noticed that Trevor was not breathing and that his hands were cold. He woke Gan and asked her to check on him.
After they failed to resuscitate the baby, Neo told Gan to book a taxi to KKH. He said he did not want to incur the cost of calling an ambulance because, in his view, Trevor was obviously dead.
On the way to the hospital, he told Gan not to say anything. He said that if the police did not get involved, they could continue living their lives and no longer have to worry about money.
