Mothers are carers and protectors for their children. But a mother recently proved that they can also be killers! A woman was given five years' jail on Wednesday (5 May) for allegedly attempting to murder her son with insulin overdose.
He was supposedly her favourite son and so she injected him with it to give him a "peaceful death." This was one of the first steps in her heinous plan to kill the rest of her family.
And she did this for a very specific and vengeful reason.
Molested And Raped As A Child
It was found that the woman was raped and molested by her older brother when she was a child. This left her traumatised. Her traumatic symptoms were triggered after she saw her brother lead a "normal life" with his wife and child.
It all started when she was just 12 years and like all children stayed with her parents and three brothers. At this age, one of her brothers molested and raped her. The woman hated her brother because of what he had done. Her relationship with her mother was also ruined as she felt like she wasn't protected by her. The woman claimed her father also raped her as a child but no investigations have proven this so far.
She eventually ran away and got married. She had two daughters as well as a son with her husband.
But it was after this brother got married in 2018 that she began plotting the murders. The woman then decided to set her whole family on fire and kill herself afterwards. She was going to kill her mother, her brother and even her three children in September 2019 before committing suicide. The accused planned to burn everyone alive with petrol.
All except for her only son who was her favourite child.
Woman Attempted Son's Murder With Insulin Overdose
The woman wanted to spare her six to seven-year-old son from the pain but she was still beginning to hate him since the boy reminded her of her brother.
So she started to inject him with doses of insulin after searching up online for "peaceful" ways to die. She found that death by insulin overdose was caused by one's blood sugar crashing which could lead to brain damage, coma or death.
The accused bought insulin pens from Malaysia and gave the first dose to the boy in January 2019. She continued to do so between January and July 2019. By then she had already administered 20 to 30 units of insulin to the boy on 13 occasions.
The boy felt side effects of severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, double vision, tinnitus, photosensitivity and numbness in fingers. He was hospitalised three times for low blood sugar levels and a hypoglycemic seizure one time.
Medical staff became suspicious over the boy's repeated hospitalisation which uncovered the woman's offences. A therapist spoke to the boy who revealed that his mother injected him on many occasions on his arms and buttocks.
The hospital staff confronted the mother that day and called the police when she admitted to injecting her son with insulin.
The young boy has been discharged into the care of child protection services after showing symptoms suggestive of PTSD.
Woman To Receive Five Years' Jail For Offences
The woman was arrested and found to have a major depressive disorder and PTSD due to the rape and molestation she experienced, according to psychiatric reports. She was also found to be a pathological liar, seen in her behaviour towards her son as a means of gaining attention.
Despite her disorders, reports found that she was not of unsound mind while committing her offences and that she knew what she was doing.
For her harmful actions, Deputy Public Prosecutor, Bhajanvir Singh asked for six years' jail for the accused. Also adding that the woman needs three to four years of treatment for rehabilitation. Even as she shows improvement in counselling, she is still found to be an unreliable and ineffective mother to her kids.
She has also been discovered to have lied to her cellmates, friends and prison counsellor. She would tell them that her son was a result of her brother's rape. Mr Singh says this is a way for her to gain more sympathy from them.
She has also lost her temper at other inmates and would throw tantrums that brought disciplinary actions against her.
Mr Singh also says the accused "played with the life of her son". He brought up that the insulin injections would have continued if not for the discovery from the staff at National University Hospital.
But Defence lawyer, Ng Pei Qi, instead asked for four years' jail for the accused. She said her client was molested and raped making her trauma "deep-rooted that she sees the face of her attacker in her son," according to CNA.
She also said that the accused was "a slave" to her mental disorders and that she felt guilty for her offences that she would feed her son snacks after injections.
The prosecution did counter that depression cannot be a license to kill others as the woman knew what she was doing.
This case has certainly proved the adage that real life is stranger than fiction!
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