SINGAPORE, July 6 — For about a year, a five-year-old girl and her younger brother were made to live in the bathroom of a one-room flat, naked, and only let out for meals or if their father or stepmother needed to use the toilet.

In August 2017, after being assaulted by her father for refusing to exercise, she died.

The 43-year-old father now stands accused of assaulting her to death and began standing trial for murder in the High Court yesterday.

He faces a single charge of murder, which carries either life imprisonment or the death penalty. He cannot be named due to a gag order imposed by the court.

The court heard that when the victim’s lifeless body was taken to the hospital, it was covered head-to-toe in bruises, abrasions, wounds and scars, and she was severely malnourished.

Living conditions

In the prosecution’s opening statement, Deputy Public Prosecutor Han Ming Kuang said that the victim lived with her father, stepmother, biological younger brother and two half-siblings in a one-room flat.

The court heard that the girl and her brother, who was almost four at the time of her death in 2017, had been placed in foster care by Child Protection Services sometime in 2014 but eventually returned in 2015 to live with their father and stepmother.

Sometime in 2015, the man began assaulting the pair. From early 2016, they were confined to a corner near the window in their home, where they spent most of their day.

They were moved to the toilet of the flat a few months later, where they were confined "practically naked”, said DPP Han.

They would spend nights sleeping in the toilet and were only let out in the day for meals or whenever the adults needed to use the toilet.

The man also installed a closed-circuit television camera capturing the toilet so that he and his wife could monitor them.

The girl’s death

On August 10, 2017 at around 9pm, the girl’s stepmother tried to get the girl to perform some exercises. Court documents did not explain why.

When she refused, her father decided to "handle the situation” by physically assaulting the victim on the head and face.

At around 7pm the next day, he realised that the girl had died, but it was only over 15 hours later that the man took the girl’s lifeless body to the hospital, the court heard.

During those 15 hours, DPP Han said the man packed up all items linked to the girl and cleaned up the flat.

He also washed her, dressed her up and placed her in a pram.

He then colluded with his wife to tell the police that the girl and her biological brother were staying at his mother’s house.

He then left his home to buy beer, before returning to his flat and assaulting his wife. Court documents did not say why.

He then threw away the camera which covered the toilet area, a mobile phone, a pair of scissors, a cane, a rubber hose, bath towels and a child safety gate into different bins at nearby blocks.

Sometime after that, he took his son and the girl’s body, still in the pram, to a hospital, said DPP Han.

He allegedly lied to the police several times during investigations, claiming that the girl had died after hitting her head on a slide.

According to an autopsy performed by the Health Sciences Authority, the cause of death was head injury, most likely due to blunt force trauma as a result of multiple blows.

‘I don’t feel anything’

Addressing questions from Deputy Public Prosecutor Norine Tan, the girl’s stepmother who appeared in court as a witness said that the girl was "skinny” around the time she died as she had not received enough food.

The 32-year-old Pizza Hut rider said that she is now in the midst of divorce proceedings.

When asked what kind of feelings she had towards the victim and her brother, she said: "I don’t feel anything”.

She added that before they were married, she had told the man that she was willing to take care of only her own biological children.

"I cannot accept them as my kids even after marriage,” she said.

The trial continues today. — TODAY