Happy Birthday to Candyce Toh
I was horrified to read the news of a heartless man being sentenced for beating up and killing the son of his girlfriend in today's copy of The New Paper... I was even more horrified when I saw the name and the photo of the monster responsible for the boy's death...
FIRDAUS ABDULLAH. He happened to be from the same unit as myself during NS!!! :-O
I don't know this Firdaus well, mostly due to the fact that his ORD came abt 4 mths after I joined SOCE MTL at Nee Soon Camp. I only knew him to be a rather quiet, patient and humble fella who got along quite well with the other people from the same batch as himself. Little would we know that in the years to come, he would become a hot-tempered and violent person in years to come, all because of his jealousy and inability to control his emotions. It shouldn't come as any surprise that people can change all of a sudden, but his fall from grace is the last thing I could ever imagine.
According to the New Paper, Firdaus was in a steady relationship with his girlfriend N (names shortened to protect their identities) who had been separated from her ex-husband (father of the boy), but he got jealous in late 2007 bcos she seemed to be closer to her son Iz than to him. As a result, he became hot-tempered and bitter, and he often got into arguments with N, til she couldn't take it anymore and wanted him to get out of the house so she can find Iz a better stepfather.
Then on 14th January 2008, N made the fatal mistake by leaving Iz under the care of Firdaus, while she went to court to settle her divorce proceedings. And that's when Firdaus let his anger get the better of him... what he did to the poor boy (who was to turn 3 on that fateful day), it is too horrifying and inhumane to even elaborate here. But I can tell you that Iz's injuries were so severe, he was declared brain-dead and died in hospital 4 lays later without recovering.
What Firdaus did was absolutely unforgivable and too shocking beyond comprehension. Instead of getting the death sentence for murder, the charge placed on him earlier this week was reduced to causing grevious hurt and ill-treating a helpless child. 7 years in jail and 12 strokes is all that the heartless Firdaus would be slapped with, but even that isn't gonna bring the poor boy back to life. The grief felt by the boy's parents is something that will take many years to get over with. All because of one person who became a monster and snuffed out their only son within a few days. I would prefer it if he got life imprisonment instead. With a criminal record such as this, there will be no second chance for Firdaus, and he will be forever labelled as a bane of humanity. Who knows he might end his own life like the Malaysian guy who killed his girlfriend's daughter?
This is the second time I had heard of someone I know get a criminal record, the first one being an former secondary schoolmate of mine being jailed for molest and robbery some 8 years ago. I may not know what happened to many of the other people I have come across in my life, but I certainly hope I don't hear a similar case such as this again in the near future.
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