SINGAPORE, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A Singapore couple who repeatedly splashed hot water on their five-year-old son until the boy died from his injuries were sentenced to 27 years in jail on Monday, local media reported.
Ridzuan Mega Abdul Rahman, 28, was given 27 years' imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane, while his wife, Azlin Arujunah, 28, was also sentenced to 27 years' in jail, with an additional one-year term in lieu of caning, the Straits Times reported, quoting prosecutors as saying it is "one of the worst cases of child abuse."
The couple had splashed hot water on the boy on four occasions between Oct. 15 and Oct. 22, 2016, at their one-room flat in Toa Payoh, and took him to hospital seven hours after he collapsed following the last incident.
The boy died from horrific scald injuries, covering about 75 percent of his body, on Oct. 23, 2016.
The pair also committed other acts of abuse against the boy, including confining him to a pet cage, pinching him with a pair of pliers, hitting him with a broom and burning his palm with a heated spoon.
The unemployed couple were charged with murder with common intention to inflict fatal scald injuries on the boy. In June, the judge acquitted the pair of murder and instead convicted them of causing grievous hurt by dangerous means for the acts of scalding.
The boy lived with another family shortly after his birth. He returned to the couple in 2015 when he was four. Enditem
