Man won't be hanged for killing 6-year-old

[Chun Li]

Mar 21, 2011

Man won't be hanged for killing 6-year-old

By Khushwant Singh

Mohammad Johan Rashid, 32, pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next Monday. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

MOHAMMAD Johan Rashid, 32, was to stand trial on Monday in the High Court for murdering a six-year-old boy placed in his care.

The jobless man had kicked and stomped on the child, fracturing his ribs and lacerating the right lung, in November 2009.

However, the prosecution decided to proceed with the lesser charge of causing death probably because there was no premeditation.

He pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next Monday.

In stating the prosecution's case, deputy public prosecutor David Khoo revealed the last days of Muhammad Nor Rashidy Rahmat.

The court heard that Mohammad Johan and his then girlfriend Siti Roudha Amir, would frequently look after Rashidy and his one-year-old brother as the boys' parents were in jail for drug consumption.

The children were then living in a Kallang Bahru flat with their maternal grandmother, Madam Asmah Asmoneh, 58, a hawker assistant at a food stall.

Investigations revealed that Mohammad Johan and his girlfriend slept over at the flat on Nov 17. After Madam Asmah had gone to work, he took Rashidy to Jurong Point.

When she insisted the child be brought home that evening, he took him instead to Siti's rented flat in Mei Ling Street.

On Nov 20, Madam Asmah got a daughter to text a warning that the police would be notified unless the boy was returned within 12 hours.

Angry at being threatened, Mohammad Johan kicked the child and stomped on the body five or six times.

The man stuffed the body in an old trolley bag and got rid of a bloodstained pillow and mattress cover.

At about 7pm he took a taxi to Bendemeer Road and hid the bag with the body in some bushes near the Kallang River.

 

[Cammy]

Mar 28, 2011

Jailed 16 years, caned for kicking child to death

By Khushwant Singh

Mohammad Johan Rashid, 32, was spared a potential death sentence on March 21, when his murder charge was reduced to culpable homicide. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

A FAMILY friend, who in November 2009 kicked and stomped on a six-year-old till he died, was sentenced to 16 years in jail and eight strokes of the cane by the High Court.

Mohammad Johan Rashid, 32, was spared a potential death sentence on March 21, when his murder charge was reduced to culpable homicide.

He pleaded guilty and on Monday, he escaped being imprisoned for life after his lawyers argued that the unemployed man was truly affectionate towards Muhammad Nor Rashidy Rahmat and had not meant him any permanent harm.

Mr Thangavelu said his client merely intended to punish the child for talking back to him and pointed out that investigations revealed that 'mild to moderate force' was used on the boy.

However, that was enough to fracture 10 ribs and lacerate a lung.

Mohammad Johan and his girlfriend, Siti Roudha Amir, would often came over to look after Rashidy and his then one-year-old brother, who stayed in a flat in Kallang Bahru with their maternal grandmother, Madam Asmah Asmoneh, 58, a hawker stall assistant.

The boys' parents are in jail for drug consumption.

Mohammad Johan and Siti slept over at the flat on Nov 17, 2009.

The next day, the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) raided the flat and arrested Siti.

Her boyfriend, who was out with Rashidy at that time, was wanted for evading his urine tests and was afraid that CNB officers were waiting for him to return.

He and the boy went to put up in Siti's rented flat in Mei Ling Street but when the child insisted on going home two days later and started talking back, Mohammad Johan set upon the boy to teach him a lesson.

Asking for a sentence of more than 15 years, deputy public prosecutor David Khoo said a 'vulnerable and defenceless child' had been attacked in a vicious, cruel manner without any justification whatsoever.

Madam Asmah told reporters in Malay: 'He took the life of a young boy and I do not understand why the charge was reduced in the first place.

That man should be made to pay for what he did.'

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