From: The New Paper

For seven days, Sallehan Allaudin showed little emotion throughout his murder trial.

He didn’t even flinch when shown pictures of his dead daughter’s lifeless body on the autopsy table.

But yesterday morning, on the eighth day, he looked a shattered man.

When his lawyer, Mr N Kanagavijayan, asked for his defence, Sallehan said: “I’ve been taking care of Nikie for two years. I love all my children. As a father, I wouldn’t have the heart to kill my own child.”

Sallehan, 27, is on trial for allegedly murdering his daughter, Natalie Nikie Alisyia Sallehan, on 6 Jan after she destroyed some of his cigarettes.

On the verge of tears, he said through a Malay interpreter: “I did not have the intention to kill her. She still had a long way to go. Your Honour, please pity me, I still have two other children.”

As he continued, his voice quivered. “If I were to be in prison for a very long time, who would feed my children?

“My wife is also facing financial difficulty outside. She has to pay $300 per child for a babysitter. Your Honour, please give me a chance, please pity me.”

Pausing and regaining his composure, he added: “Your Honour, I’m still young and I still have many responsibilities. I realise my mistake. I was very angry at that time. I was just trying to discipline my child.”

The last two days of the trial have thrown up a different side to Sallehan. He was actually a devoted dad, he said.

The second oldest of five siblings, he slogged to support his family on a meagre income of $800 as a cleaner.

It was barely enough, after paying $180 for their two-room Boon Lay rental flat and household bills.

The income was never steady. Sometimes he would get calls to take the day off so his employer could save some money, he said.

With three young children, then aged 23 months, 12months and 2 months, he had to buy tins of milk powder and diapers weekly.

They had “financial difficulty”, he said, and as the sole breadwinner, he was under severe “stress” and “pressure”.

Sallehan, who did not complete Primary Five education, was also sleep-deprived, because his children’s cries and their neighbours’ noise prevented him from sleeping whenever he returned home in the morning, after working overnight.

For relief, he played video games and smoked eight sticks of contraband cigarettes a day.

He said he would prepare milk for his children, buy food for them, feed them, play with them, and occasionally pamper them with toys.

When the children had to see the doctor for their regular check-ups, he would take them, he said.

He was there for Nikie when she fell from a bench in a fast-food restaurant. While she cried, he rubbed her head to soothe her.

But he was like a child himself.

He often played with his portable game console, and would indulge in racing and wrestling games whenever he had a break.

And sometimes when playing with his children, he would go overboard too.

His wife, Madam Rozanah Yusoff, had testified that “it was normal for (Sallehan) to bite” Nikie and even her while playing.

Sallehan admitted to biting Nikie once.

He said he was “just playing with Nikie” though the girl “looked like she was going to cry”.

Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Winston Cheng asked him: “She was almost close to tears... this means you used considerable force, agree or disagree?”

Sallehan disagreed.

‘Only playing’

He maintained that he was “only playing”, and biting his wife was also “just a playful thing for us, between husband and wife”.

On 6 Jan, after returning home from a shopping trip with his wife, he repeatedly hit little Nikie.

The couple had left their three children alone at home for about an hour.

When they returned, Sallehan flew into a rage when he saw that Nikie had played with and broken some of his cigarettes.

He admitted to slapping her “hard”, punching her arms and punching her back.

He alleged that Madam Rozanah used a broomstick to hit Nikie’s back twice – a claim that she denies.

When asked by Mr Kanagavijayan what type of injuries he expected when he punched Nikie’s back, Sallehan said: “I expected her back to be swollen, but I did not intend to punch her
until she got a swollen back.

“At that time, I was angry. I did not think this would happen.”

The trial continues.