A man in Singapore was sentenced to eight months in jail for causing the death of his four-year-old son by forcing him to eat chilli roughly two years ago.
The 38-year-old father inserted the tip of a chilli into his son’s mouth during a toilet training incident in August 2022 at their home in Singapore, as reported by Channel NewsAsia (CNA). The boy, who had defecated, denied it when asked by his father, who then decided to discipline him by making him eat the chilli. The child collapsed shortly after, running around the room gesturing at his throat.
Despite efforts by the mother to resuscitate him, the boy’s condition did not improve. The father then took him to a nearby family clinic where the child was found to have lost his pulse and breathing. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
The autopsy revealed that the piece of chilli had obstructed the boy’s airway, leading to “acute airway obstruction by foreign body” as the cause of death, according to the CNA report.
The judge, as quoted in the CNA report, stated, “It could have been prevented if you did not adopt such a method to discipline your child,” adding, “This method of disciplining a vulnerable victim, or any such method … should be discouraged … at all costs.”
The couple has three other children.