JOHOR BARU: The four-year-old boy, who died from alleged physical abuse at the hands of his sister and guardian, had been a fighter since he was a newborn.
Born to drug-addicted parents, the child, who was the youngest of 11 siblings, was delivered prematurely and was always unwell.
On Monday, however, the child died at Hospital Sultan Ismail’s intensive care unit (ICU) after having spent three days there.
Five people, including his sister and brother-in-law, have been detained to help in investigations into possible abuse and murder of the child.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said they were notified of the case after a 23-year-old man lodged a report at around 6.45pm on Friday.
He added that the victim had been taken to a clinic for treatment after apparently fainting at his home at Senggarang in Batu Pahat.
“After receiving the report, police then arrested five people around Senggarang between midnight and 9.45pm on Saturday.
“Three females between the ages of 15 and 37 were among them,” he said at a press conference held at Hospital Sultan Ismail mortuary here yesterday.
Comm Kamarul Zaman added that the victim’s 19-year-old sister and her 37-year-old husband were odd job workers.
He said investigations so far revealed that the child was initially under the care of his granduncle after his parents were arrested and sentenced to jail for drug offences earlier this year.
“However, as the victim was always unwell, the granduncle could no longer cope with caring for him and sent him back to the Welfare Department.
“Then, the victim’s mother was released from prison in September where she took him back from the department. But not long after, police arrested the mother again for drug trafficking.
“The child then had been under the care of his sister for about two to three months prior to the incident,” he added.
Comm Kamarul Zaman said that the person who lodged the report was the sister’s friend who persuaded her that he wanted to look after the victim.
He added that the victim was in a weak state when the friend took him in and fainted before being rushed to the clinic. The friend later lodged a police report.
Comm Kamarul Zaman said police also seized several items including a mobile phone charger, a pillowcase, a bedsheet, an iron bar, a coat hanger, a fan covering and a motorcycle rod, which police believed were used to abuse the child.
He added that the victim was then sent to the hospital from Batu Pahat where he was warded at its ICU unit on Friday until his death at around 6.40pm.
“Checks on the victim found that the he suffered bruises including new ones all over his body and burn marks on his genitals,” he said, adding that a post-mortem would be conducted to find out the cause of death.
Comm Kamarul Zaman, who was visibly upset with the case, told the public that they should come forward and immediately lodge a report with the police whenever a child was abused.
“Do not wait until it is too late. A child lost his life as no one came forward to help him,” he said.
He added that initially, the case was being investigated under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001 but with the victim’s death, police reclassified the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
