Parents jailed over fatal abuse of 8-month-old son

SINGAPORE - For nearly the entirety of his short life, eight-month-old Trevor Neo was smothered, shaken and hit by his parents, who found it funny abusing him.

On Oct 21, in the High Court, the baby’s father, Neo Jia Ming, 27, was sentenced to 16 years’ jail.

Trevor’s mother, Chloe Gan Ci Xuan, 23, was sentenced to 15 years and three months’ jail.

The married couple had on Oct 12 each pleaded guilty to three charges relating to Trevor’s abuse.

Neo had an additional domestic abuse charge for assaulting Gan multiple times.

In sentencing the pair, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng said that contrary to defence arguments the young couple was overwhelmed by the task of taking care of the baby, Gan and Neo were well-supported by family members and also had a nanny.

The judge said text messages between them made light of their physical abuse of Trevor and potential detrimental effects.

The judge compared the actions of Neo and Gan to that of the couple in the tragic case of four-year-old Megan Khung.

Megan’s mother Foo Li Ping was sentenced to 19 years’ jail, while Foo’s boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang was sentenced to 30 years’ jail and 17 strokes of the cane.

On Oct 21, Gan, who is petite and sports bobbed hair, exchanged a few words with her lawyer Josephus Tan. She did not speak to nor look at Neo.

Her parents and Neo’s mother were in court. They locked eyes with their children for a brief moment, then looked stoically ahead waiting for the case to start.

Gan and Neo abused Trevor by shaking him, or covering his mouth and nose to stop him from crying.

Gan also hit the infant on numerous occasions, resulting in bruises over his body. 

Neo slapped Trevor, dug his fingers into his son’s mouth, and hit him. He also repeatedly pinched Trevor’s fingers to provoke a reaction from the baby, which he found funny.

The couple exchanged messages about the abuse, and joked about how the shaking could cause brain damage.

Trevor 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.

The baby 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.

Shook baby to stop cries

The court was told on Oct 12 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.

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.

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.

Neo once 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.

Gan soon followed suit. Initially, she covered the infant’s face 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.

Gan also hit the baby whenever she became frustrated when he cried or did not fall asleep.

Grandmother knew of abuse

In May 2024, four months before Trevor died, Gan’s mother noticed the bruises on Trevor’s body and warned Gan not to hit the baby any more. Gan did not heed the warning.

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

He texted Gan to tell her if people asked about the bruises, she should say 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.

When the nanny asked what had happened, Neo lied he did not know.

At the nanny’s insistence, Neo and Gan took the baby to KKH on April 2, 2024. A medical examination noted redness under his tongue.

On Aug 2, 2024, Neo 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.

Neo also physically abused Gan between February and August 2024.

He punched her multiple times at an arcade at Kallang Wave Mall because he was angry she had played a game on her own even though he had told her he wanted to play with her.

He also punched her at a bus stop after she accidentally led them onto the wrong bus.

On the evening of Sept 1, 2024, Gan pulled a furry blanket over Trevor’s face and repeatedly pressed down to stop him from crying.

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

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

When Trevor started crying 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 playing his mobile phone game, he noticed Trevor was not breathing and his hands were cold. He woke Gan up and asked her to check on him.

After they failed to resuscitate the baby, Neo told Gan to book a taxi to KKH. He said he did not want to incur the cost of summoning an ambulance when it was obvious to him Trevor was dead.

On the way there, he told Gan not to say anything. He said if the police did not get involved, they could continue living their lives and not worry about money any more.