‘You want the baby to die?’: Couple admit to fatal abuse of 8-month-old son

A young married couple who habitually abused their eight-month-old infant for most of his life before he died in 2024 pleaded guilty to their respective offences on Oct 12.

The mother, Chloe Gan Ci Xuan, 23, and the father, Neo Jia Ming, 27, will be sentenced on Oct 21.

Neo, who found it funny to abuse his son, also admitted to assaulting his wife.

During the hearing, High Court judge Hoo Sheau Peng remarked that the couple treated the abuse of their son “almost as a joke, a laughing matter”.

Their son, Trevor Neo Yu Hin, died after Gan smothered him, hit him in the face and turned him face down on the mattress on the night of Sept 1, 2024.

Neo knew his wife was abusing the child but did nothing to protect Trevor. 

Trevor was pronounced dead at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) at about 12.20am on Sept 2. The couple were arrested after hospital staff lodged a police report. 

An autopsy could not determine the definitive cause of death.

On Oct 12, Gan and Neo admitted that they regularly shook Trevor or covered his mouth and nose to stop him from crying.

On numerous occasions, Gan also hit the infant on his hand, chest, thighs and buttocks, resulting in bruises over his body. 

Neo physically abused Trevor by slapping him, digging his fingers into his son’s mouth, hitting him on his hands, legs, chest and buttocks, and repeatedly pinching his fingers.

The couple exchanged messages about abusing their son and sometimes nonchalantly and jokingly described the effects the violent shaking could have on him, such as causing brain damage.

They joked that he could have been exhausted by the constant shaking.

Gan pleaded guilty to three charges, one for causing Trevor’s death by an unlawful act, one for ill-treating him and one for knowingly permitting Neo to ill-treat Trevor.

Neo pleaded guilty to four charges, one for allowing Trevor’s death by an unlawful act, one for ill-treatment of the baby, one for knowingly permitting Gan to ill-treat Trevor and one for assaulting Gan.

The prosecution is seeking 14 to 15 years’ jail for Gan, and 15 to 16 years’ jail for Neo.

Neo’s lawyers, Johannes Hadi and Seraphine Loh, sought a jail term of seven years and seven weeks. They argued that Neo was overwhelmed by the task of taking care of the baby.

Gan’s lawyer, Cory Wong, sought a jail term of 12½ to 13 years. He argued that his client, who was between 20 and 21 years old at the time, had followed her husband’s lead in abusing the infant.

Prosecutors told the court that Gan moved out of her parents’ home to live with Neo in his Hougang flat after she found out she was pregnant in April 2023.

The couple married on Aug 2, 2023, and Trevor was born on Dec 9, 2023.

Following her discharge from hospital after giving birth, Gan stayed at her parents’ home and took care of Trevor with the help of a confinement lady. Neo stayed there for two weeks.

Frequent shaking

In January 2024, the couple and Trevor moved back to Neo’s flat, where two of his uncles also lived.

From February 2024, the couple engaged a nanny to look after Trevor during the day on weekdays. Other relatives helped to care for Trevor on weekends.

Soon after moving back to the Hougang flat, the couple frequently shook Trevor vigorously to stop his cries.

Once, when Trevor was about 41 days old, Gan shook him while Neo was at work.

She went back to sleep after Trevor became unconscious.

Later, when Trevor did not respond when she tried to feed him, she exchanged text messages with Neo about the incident.

Trevor was hospitalised for observation from Jan 18 to 23, 2024. No injuries were found.

Before Feb 18, 2024, Neo covered Trevor’s nose and mouth with his hands for about a minute, until the baby vomited milk and turned purple.

After this incident, Neo told Gan he did not wish to take care of Trevor any more because he was afraid he might kill him.

Neo continued to abuse Trevor in this manner every day for two weeks in April 2024.

Initially, Gan covered the infant’s face only with a blanket to muffle his cries.

By May 2024, when Trevor could pull the blanket away, she put her hands over his nose and mouth, and pressed down on his face to make him lose consciousness.

On numerous occasions between April and August 2024, Gan hit the infant whenever she became frustrated when he cried or did not fall asleep.

In May 2024, her mother noticed the bruises on Trevor’s body and warned Gan not to hit the baby any more. Despite the warning, Gan continued to hit the infant.

On March 5, 2024, Neo slapped Trevor, leaving bruises on his face.

He texted Gan to tell her that if people asked about the bruises, she should say that he had accidentally dropped a phone on the baby’s face.

Once, on his way to the nanny’s home, Neo put his hand into Trevor’s mouth and dug around until the child bled under his tongue.

The nanny noticed the injury and asked what had happened, but Neo lied that he did not know.

When the nanny insisted that Trevor be seen by a doctor, Neo and Gan took him to KKH on April 2, 2024.

A medical examination noted redness under his tongue. After they left the hospital, Neo admitted to Gan that he had hurt the baby.

Dad found abuse funny

On another occasion, Neo grabbed Trevor’s palm and fingers and squeezed them forcefully, leaving a bruise on the baby’s hand.

Between May and July 2024, Neo pinched Trevor’s fingers 20 to 30 times per occasion because he wanted to provoke a reaction from the baby, which he found funny.

Neo also often hit Trevor on the thighs, buttocks and chest.

On Aug 2, 2024, he texted Gan, telling her not to hit Trevor at all until Tuesday to avoid leaving bruises apparently because they were taking the baby to a doctor.

Between February and August 2024, Neo also physically abused Gan. Once, at an arcade at Kallang Wave Mall, Neo punched her multiple times because he was angry that she had played a game on her own even though he had told her he wanted to play with her.

On the evening of Sept 1, 2024, Gan was on the bed using her mobile phone and Neo was playing a game on his mobile phone when Trevor cried.

Gan went to the cot, pulled a furry blanket over Trevor’s face and pressed down for close to a minute as he struggled and twitched.

She repeated this three or four times.

While doing this, she asked Neo: “How? You want the baby to die?”

She also remarked: “If anything happens, we will go to jail.”

After Trevor stopped crying, she left the blanket on his face and went back to bed, while Neo continued to play his game.

When Trevor cried again, she covered his nose and mouth with both hands, one on top of the other, and pressed down hard. She then pounded her right hand, which was covering Trevor’s face, with her left fist.

She then flipped Trevor over so that he lay face down and left him in that position before going to sleep.

At about 11.30pm, after Neo finished his game, he observed that Trevor was not breathing and his hands were cold. He woke Gan up and asked her to check on him.

Both parents performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the baby, but there was no pulse.

Neo told Gan to book a taxi to KKH as he said he did not want to incur the additional cost of summoning an ambulance when it was obvious to him that the baby was dead.

On the way there, he told Gan to keep quiet and not say anything. He said that if nothing happened and the police did not get involved, they could continue living their lives and not worry about money any more.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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