A Belgian expatriate was sentenced to five years' jail in Singapore on Monday (Aug 21) for killing his five-year-old son last year while suffering from severe depression during a child custody battle.
Philippe Graffart, 42, was sentenced on a reduced charge of culpable homicide instead of murder, after psychiatric findings showed he had "diminished responsibility" for suffocating his son Keryan with a pillow in their apartment.
Murder is punishable by hanging in Singapore.
Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng said she took into consideration the grievous nature of the offence, the fact that it had been committed against a vulnerable child, and the fact that the offender was the child's own parent.
"This sentence is necessary to show that the accused's actions are not to be condoned," Hoo said.