Father arrested for alleged murder of his two-year-old child

Father arrested for alleged murder of his two-year-old child

SINGAPORE - A 34-year-old man has been arrested for the suspected murder of a two-year-old child on Sunday (June 16) in Sengkang, the police said in a statement on Monday (June 17).

The police responded to a call requesting for assistance at Block 163B, Rivervale Crescent at 10.24pm and found a two-year-old child lying motionless in the bedroom of a unit in the block.

A 34-year-old man was also found injured inside the same bedroom.

Both the suspect and the child were taken to Sengkang General Hospital where the child was pronounced dead at 12.28am on Monday.

The man, who is the father of the child, has been arrested, the statement said, adding that he will be charged in court on Tuesday.

Police have classified the case as murder. Investigations are ongoing.

The Straits Times understands that the suspect's name is Mr JohnBoy John Teo, who is married with a daughter.

When ST visited the flat at 11pm on Monday, where the murder allegedly occurred, all was quiet with no police cordons in sight.

The unit had been locked securely by the police, said neighbours.

When interviewed, a next-door neighbour told ST that on the day of the incident, he did not notice any commotion or hear loud noises.

The neighbour told ST that he saw the suspect's wife, her mother, and his father turn up at the apartment around 11pm on Sunday, before the police arrived.

Several police officers arrived at the scene later, after which the apartment had to be broken into for investigators to enter.

"It was really shocking to hear that something like this had happened in our area," said the neighbour.

He described the suspect and his wife as well-educated and friendly, and their daughter as a cute and well adjusted girl.

"We have known them for several years, since we moved in. We don't know what could have happened, and this is very distressing - because we live next to them, and know them personally," he said.

Another neighbour living downstairs told ST that he had been woken up in the middle of the night a few times in the last month by the sound of a wailing toddler.

"It wasn't the normal kind of crying you hear from a child. It was quite loud, and we are not light sleepers," said the neighbour, adding that he believes the sound came from the suspect's flat.

Additional reporting by Shaffiq Alkhatib and Malavika Menon

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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