When push comes to shove, a boy dies
TODAY, let us tell you a sad story.
This is about a mother of two boys, one of whom has an autistic disorder, who snapped. She ended up pushing her seven year old son out of the kitchen window. He fell nine storeys and died.
The day had begun badly for her. She was having a cold war with her husband. He didn’t take in the laundry even though it was raining. When he finally did – after being shouted at – he threw the poles and wet laundry on the floor. Then he left the house with their older boy, 14, who had to go for tuition. So there was the 43 year old housewife, left to pick up after his mess.
Then those neighbours opposite her block appeared to be staring at her, and she returned their attention with a rude gesture. But it also seemed that some of her laundry poles had fallen off in the rain. So she got on a stool set by the kitchen window to see if she could spot them. But she felt dizzy doing so. She had a shower and went out into the living room only to see that her seven year old had defecated in his pants and fallen asleep in front of the TV. There’s more cleaning and washing for her to do. That was when she saw that the stool was still by the open kitchen window. And she saw the boy. She got him to stand on the stool to look out for his grandmother. He did so. Then she held him by his calves and tilted him over.
When police came, she was hugging a pillow. Eyes closed. In a daze. She was jailed five years yesterday for her action in September, 2014.
How little we know about what goes behind the doors of a household. How the little stresses can build up and finally explode in one action that will cause a lifetime of regret. She was depressed and saw the boy as the source of her exhaustion. It seemed she had a “mental history” since 2008 and is now getting psychiatric treatment in prison.
The husband and remaining son seem to be firmly behind her. They wrote letters to the court saying they want to be re-united with her. They’ve moved out of the flat. You wonder what they must be going through and how much blame they place on the woman – or on themselves. If the husband had only taken in the laundry…?
Now that that’s over, let’s talk about the weather. Yes, it’s hot but it’s not going to hit 40 degree celsius as in neighbouring Malaysia, where one person has died and 13 are ill because of the heat wave. But go easy on the cold shower, the reservoirs next door are running low, and we’re topping up our own with Newater.
Also get prepared for two things to happen:
a. There will be plenty of Lee Kuan Yew memorial events given that his first death anniversary is on March 23. Expect the news to be full of it. We’re no different. We’ll be taking Lee Kuan Yew back…into the future. Watch out for our series.
b. There will be more talk about hardening up Singapore in the wake of a significant speech by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam yesterday about concrete measure to deter terrorists. You can read our report here. If you wonder whether the G is going overboard with its surveillance and response measures, we tell you how they stack up against what other countries do.
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