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By Amanda Yong
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EACH time he was doing housework, the little girl would vomit or mess up the place.
This was enough to cause Mohd Azhar Ghapar, 30, a Singapore permanent resident, to fly into a violent rage.
He would pinch Sri Alyaniz Nazri (right), his then-girlfriend's daughter, on her ear or cheeks, or grip her arms tight and fling her onto a mattress. And he did not stop there.
On two occasions over three days, he head-butted the child twice. He also punched her and stepped on her stomach.
These are just some examples of the abuse he subjected the girl to several times over a span of about three weeks.
Four days after the final assault, Sri Alyaniz died in hospital of traumatic brain injuries.
She was only two years and four months old.
An autopsy report showed that among the injuries she suffered were two broken ribs, multiple bruises on various parts of her body and bleeding in her skull.
Yesterday, Mohd Azhar pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and three counts of ill-treatment of a child.
Another six similar charges of ill-treatment of a child will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced on March 1.
The series of abuses that ended in the girl's death began on Sept 23, 2009. There were 11 such incidents including the last assault on Oct 10.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Gail Wong told the court that Mohd Azhar had been in a relationship with the child's mother, Ms Siti Junaina, 30, since early 2008.
On Sept 20, Ms Siti, a sales assistant, asked Mohd Azhar to help her look after Sri Alyaniz while she went to work. She was working the afternoon shift at the time.
Mohd Azhar, who had recently been retrenched, agreed. He started taking care of the girl from Sept 23.
During this period, he also cooked and did some household chores for his girlfriend. He would sometimes take Sri Alyaniz to his flat at Petir Road in the mornings so that his mother could help to take care of the child.
Then, in the afternoons, he would take her back to Ms Siti's flat at Block 126, Pending Road. On Sept 27, after Mohd Azhar had finished doing housework at the flat, Sri Alyaniz vomited in the living room.
According to court papers, Mohd Azhar gripped her upper arms and shook them twice while he said: "Uncle is tired, right."
Then, he cleaned her up and took her to a bedroom where he applied ointment on her stomach.
When she threw up again, he snapped. He punched her in the abdomen, causing her to groan in pain.
He then gripped her thighs hard and told her to sit on the sofa quietly. When she stood up, he knelt down, gripped her upper arms, lifted her and threw her onto the mattress.
As she cried, he pinched her arms.
Later that evening, Ms Siti noticed the blue-black marks on her daughter's upper arms and thighs and questioned him about it. He lied and said he had beaten the child softly.
Three days later, while sweeping the floor, he saw that Sri Alyaniz had dropped a cracker he had given her onto the floor. He pinched the child's right ear and she made what court papers described as a "hek" sound.
After he mopped the living room, Sri Alyaniz vomited on the floor. Upset by this, Mohd Azhar punched the girl's chest.
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