SINGAPORE — The man who allegedly murdered his toddler on Father’s Day was charged in hospital on Tuesday (June 18).

Teo Johnboy John, 35, is accused of killing his two-year-old daughter on Sunday evening. He was found injured in the bedroom of an 11th storey unit at Block 163B, Rivervale Crescent in Sengkang.

The police had received a call for help there at 10.24pm on Sunday. It was not stated who made the call.

When police officers arrived at the flat, they found the toddler, Ashley Clare Teo, lying motionless in the same bedroom.

Court documents stated that the alleged murder took place sometime between 7.40pm and 11.05pm.

Father and child were both taken to Sengkang General Hospital. The girl was pronounced dead about two hours later at 12.28am.

Teo was later arrested. Police said that investigations into the case are ongoing.

Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that the child was believed to have been suffocated and Teo tried to kill himself by slashing his own neck. It added that Teo and his ex-wife had divorced in March, with the custody of the child going to the ex-wife.

In an interview with Wanbao, the ex-wife said that she would let the child stay with Teo during the weekends. On Sunday, she called the police after Teo was an hour late in returning the child to her. She decided to allow their child to spend the day with Teo because it was Father’s Day, she said.

Teo’s LinkedIn profile states that he has been working for the past five years as a system specialist at NCS, a multinational information and communications technology company based in Singapore. NCS is also a wholly owned subsidiary of telecommunications company Singtel.

He graduated with a diploma in mechanical engineering from Singapore Polytechnic in 2009.

In a statement, NCS said: "We can confirm that Mr JohnBoy John Teo is a staff at NCS Pte Ltd, but are unable to comment further as investigations are ongoing. We are reaching out to his family to see if we can render any help or support while also assisting authorities in their investigations."

Teo will appear in court again via video-link on July 9.

Murder carries either a life or death sentence.

When TODAY visited the block of flats where Teo was living, neighbours said they were shocked by such an incident in their quiet estate.

One resident, who wanted to be known only as Madam Fu, described the family as reserved but friendly. "We would always greet each other when we met, but that was about it," the 42-year-old homemaker said in Mandarin.

Mdm Fu, who lives on the same floor as Teo, said that their families had moved in around the same time in 2016.

She added that she could not recall seeing Teo's ex-wife or daughter in the months before the alleged murder.

Another neighbour who lives directly above Teo’s unit and who identified himself only as Mr Eysham, said that he never heard any quarrels or shouts from Teo's home. The 38-year-old civil servant said, however, that he had never met Teo or his family before.

A former taekwondo coach, who declined to be named, told TODAY that he had taught classes with Teo and his ex-wife several years ago.

The 32-year-old said that the couple were part-time instructors who helped coach various age groups every Saturday.

He recalled that they were not married at that point, but he remembered them as being "sweet and loving".

"They were so nice as a couple… the impression I had of them was that they loved kids. They were great with the three- to five-year-olds whom they taught," he said.

On his Facebook page, Teo had updated his profile picture on June 4 with a photograph of him and his daughter.

In November 2016, he had put up a profile picture of himself carrying his newborn. A friend, commenting on the picture, asked him to “take good care of the kid”. Teo replied: “Oh yes… definitely." ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOW YOUJIN