23 August,2016 07:27 AM IST | | Agencies
Last year, in depression, he smothered his five-year-old with a pillow
Singapore: A Belgian expatriate in Singapore was yesterday sentenced to five years' jail for killing his five-year-old son last year while suffering from severe depression during a child custody battle.
Philippe Graffart (centre) was held guilty of culpable homicide
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.
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.
Graffart looked impassive when his sentence was read out, even as representatives from the French and Belgian embassies were present during the High Court hearing.
His Singaporean lawyer Ramesh Tiwary said that Keryan's death is something Graffart "will have to live with for the rest of his life".
Court documents showed Graffart was locked in a bitter custody battle over Keryan with his estranged French wife Gwendoline when he smothered the boy with a cushion after giving him a sedative on October 5, 2015. After the killing, he unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by crashing his car before giving himself up to police.
