Killer dad gets four more years in jail for beating death of 23-month-old daughter (Singapore)

Dad SALLEHAN ALLAUDIN beat his 23-month-old daughter to death for playing with his cigarette. No expletives I could come up with seem adequate....

Killer dad gets four years more
by Leong Wee Keat 05:55 AM Nov 09, 2010

SINGAPORE - It was one of the worst cases the Court has seen, a Judge of Appeal noted twice during the hour-long hearing yesterday. Some 22 old scars and 58 external injuries were found on 23-month-old Natalie Nikie Alisyia Sallehan's body.

They came to light after her father, Sallehan Allaudin, 28, was arrested for causing her death. He had acted in a fit of rage after catching the girl playing with his cigarettes.

Yesterday, the Public Prosecutor appealed against Sallehan's six-year jail term, arguing that it was inadequate. Agreeing with the prosecutor, the Court of Appeal gave Sallehan the maximum 10-year jail term permissible under the law and ordered him to be given 10 strokes of the cane.

This was a case of a vulnerable victim who needed the law's protection, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Winston Cheng. While Sallehan stood at 1.73m tall and weighed 63kg, Nikie was barely 78cm tall and only weighed 10kg, argued the prosecutor.

On Jan 6 last year, Sallehan scolded the child for playing with his cigarettes. When she cried, he slapped her. As she wailed louder, he punched her until she bled from the nose.

Two days before she died, Nikie had also played with Sallehan's cigarettes. This led Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, one of three judges presiding yesterday, to quip to Sallehan's lawyers: "One would have thought that a two-year-old child would be playful and curious. Why did he not place his cigarettes somewhere else? It looks like your client is in need of disciplining more than the child."

But Sallehan's lawyer, Mr N Kanagavijayan, argued his client was a loving father to his three daughters and gave all his $800 salary to his wife.

Justice Kan Ting Chiu pointed to the injuries suffered, which suggested an "extremely brutal" man and "doesn't gel" with the lawyer's loving portrayal of Sallehan.

Injuries were also not limited to one area which suggested the assault was sustained, said Judge of Appeal V K Rajah. "This is one of the worst cases we have seen," he added.

Describing it as "a sad, shocking and horrendous case", Justice Chao said Sallehan was supposed to protect and guide the child, but took on the role of an abuser instead. The Court had to take a serious view of such cases, he added.

As the family's two daughters were both under three years old, the Court requested the Public Prosecutor contact welfare services officers to keep tabs on the family before and after Sallehan's release. Leong Wee Keat