Five years’ jail for woman who injected son with insulin
She resented the boy because he resembled her brother, who had raped her when she was a child
A woman who was raped by her brother when she was a child hurt her own son because she felt that the boy resembled her attacker.
Between January and July 15, 2019, she injected the boy, then seven, with insulin on at least 13 occasions.
The woman had learnt that a high dosage of the substance could cause a person's blood sugar to crash, possibly leading to death.
The boy's blood sugar level did fall and he had headaches, but he survived the attacks.
Yesterday, the 29-year-old mother was sentenced to five years' jail after she pleaded guilty to causing hurt to the boy by using a poison.
The woman, who also has two daughters, cannot be named to protect her son's identity.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Bhajanvir Singh said the woman was sexually abused when she was between nine and 12 years old. She was then living with her parents and three brothers.
The offences came to light when her attacker was 13. He was dealt with in court and sentenced to two years in a boys' home.
After her brother served his sentence, he tied the knot in September 2018 and later learnt he was to be a father the following year.
That appeared to trigger the woman. She was upset he had moved on with his life and felt he did not deserve to be happy.
In 2019, she had initially planned to kill her three children, mother and the brother who attacked her, as well as take her own life.
She planned to burn them all alive in a murder-suicide rampage. But she did not want her son - her favourite child - then about seven, to "die in pain".
HATRED
At some point, however, she developed a hatred towards her son as she felt that he resembled her attacker.
In January 2019, she travelled to Johor Baru and bought insulin pens and needles from a pharmacy there.
After she gave the boy the jabs, he suffered from conditions such as severe headaches and photosensitivity.
The boy was admitted on June 10, 2019, to National University Hospital, where he was diagnosed with hyperinsulinism.
He was hospitalised three times after the diagnosis.
On one occasion, a child life therapist spoke to the boy, who revealed that his mother had on numerous occasions injected him with "medication".
Hospital staff confronted the woman on July 16, 2019, and she admitted she had been injecting insulin into the boy. The police were then alerted.
This article first appeared in The Straits Times.
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