Thursday March 7, 2013

RM3,000 fine for mum who flushed baby down the toilet

By QISHIN TARIQ
qishin.tariq@thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: A factory worker initially charged with murdering her baby has been let off with a RM3,000 fine after the Court of Appeal reduced her charge.

Nurul Syuhada Shamsudin, 23, (pic) had her charged reduced to concealment of birth and secret disposal of a body, after the prosecution appealed against the Penang High Court’s 2011 decision to acquit her of the murder charge.

She pleaded guilty to the alternative charge.

Counsel E. Gnasegaran pleaded for leniency as his client had already been in remand for 13 months.

“Research shows that post-partum psychosis has complex causes and does not spring from criminal tendencies.

“Counselling would better serve a person in my client’s situation than a prison term,” he said in mitigation yesterday.

DPP Aslinda Ahad urged for a deterrent sentence, saying Nurul Syuhada, who was 19 years old at the time of the offence, was old enough to be aware of her actions and its consequences.

“In asking for a heavier sentence, I speak as a prosecutor, woman, and mother.

“The baby, her own child, was found abandoned in a toilet bowl, a filthy, terrible place to die,” she said.

The panel, which in-cluded Justices Abdul Malik Ishak, Linton Albert and Mohd Zawawi Salleh, fined Nurul Syuhada RM3,000, in default two months’ jail.

“We have taken into account the 13 months you spent in remand and the pain and humiliation you’ve gone through.

“However, you have committed the crime and must face the consequences,” said Justice Abdul Malik.

Nurul Syuhada’s lawyer paid the fine.

On Jan 25, 2011 the Penang High Court acquitted Nurul Syuhada of murdering her newborn daughter by flushing the baby down the toilet at her workplace in 2009.

She was initially charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

News

Thursday March 7, 2013

RM3,000 fine for mum who flushed baby down the toilet

By QISHIN TARIQ qishin.tariq@thestar.com.my

By QISHIN TARIQ
qishin.tariq@thestar.com.my