Father's heartbreak: I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction

He hopes sharing the lessons he learnt can help other parents avoid a similar tragedy

- Zaihan Mohamed Yusof

The last image Mr Delfard Tay has of his 19-year-old daughter Shermaine is a video of her stumbling out of their three-room flat in Tanjong Pagar.

She looks unsteady in the footage, as she tries to get up from the sofa she slept on in the living room.

It was a familiar sight - and Mr Tay knew she had used Kpod, a type of vape pod containing liquid laced with the powerful anaesthetic drug etomidate.

For months in 2024, he had argued with his only child, urging her to quit using Kpods.

He knew how destructive substance addiction could be - after all, he had criminal convictions for drug trafficking and other offences.

Mr Tay, 43, said his daughter had been under drug supervision for using methamphetamine or Ice, which she had consumed at her boyfriend's home some time between 2023 and 2024.

It was her first brush with the law, and she did not abuse drugs after that, he added.

She then tried to convince him that Kpods were safe, but her addiction to them ended her life.

Mr Tay said with a sigh: "I wanted to lead by example and tell her to stay away from drugs and Kpods... But it was a bit too late."

The timestamp on the minute-long video, captured by a security camera he had installed in his flat to monitor his grandmother, reads "2.30am, Sept 22, 2024".

At the time, Mr Tay, who is divorced, was at his girlfriend's home.

About 90 minutes after his daughter left the flat, Mr Tay received a call from the police.

She had been found at the foot of their HDB block. Her mobile phone was recovered from the 18th floor.

There was no message or final call, said Mr Tay.

A pathology report stated that the teenager died of multiple injuries after falling from a height.

"My mind went blank for 30 minutes when I was told how she died," recalled Mr Tay.