By Khushwant Singh
A FAMILY friend, who in November 2009 kicked and stomped on a six-year-old till he died, was sentenced to 16 years in jail and eight strokes of the cane by the High Court. Mohammad Johan Rashid, 32, was spared a potential death sentence on March 21, when his murder charge was reduced to culpable homicide. He pleaded guilty and on Monday, he escaped being imprisoned for life after his lawyers argued that the unemployed man was truly affectionate towards Muhammad Nor Rashidy Rahmat and had not meant him any permanent harm. Mr Thangavelu said his client merely intended to punish the child for talking back to him and pointed out that investigations revealed that 'mild to moderate force' was used on the boy. However, that was enough to fracture 10 ribs and lacerate a lung.
Mohammad Johan and his girlfriend, Siti Roudha Amir, would often came over to look after Rashidy and his then one-year-old brother, who stayed in a flat in Kallang Bahru with their maternal grandmother, Madam Asmah Asmoneh, 58, a hawker stall assistant. The boys' parents are in jail for drug consumption.
Mohammad Johan and Siti slept over at the flat on Nov 17, 2009. The next day, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) raided the flat and arrested Siti. Her boyfriend, who was out with Rashidy at that time, was wanted for evading his urine tests and was afraid that CNB officers were waiting for him to return.
He and the boy went to put up in Siti's rented flat in Mei Ling Street but when the child insisted on going home two days later and started talking back, Mohammad Johan set upon the boy to teach him a lesson.
Asking for a sentence of more than 15 years, deputy public prosecutor David Khoo said a 'vulnerable and defenceless child' had been attacked in a vicious, cruel manner without any justification whatsoever.
Madam Asmah told reporters in Malay: 'He took the life of a young boy and I do not understand why the charge was reduced in the first place. That man should be made to pay for what he did.'
'mild to moderate force' is enough to fracture bones and lacerate a lung I seriously wonder if he knew 'where is the 'exact' spot of the organs are'.
beast
make him suffer in prison
tis type of ppl should not exist
this people grew up in the jungle or what? take drugs....violence on a 6 year old.
haiz.. should hang him.
now taxpayers got to feed him for 16 years because he killed his child