Parents arrested after five-year-old dies from suspected abuse

JOHOR BARU: The parents of a five-year-old boy were arrested after he died due to wounds sustained due to suspected physical abuse.

Johor Baru (South) Deputy OCPD Supt Mohd Afzanizam Yahaya said that the doctor who treated the victim had lodged a report at the Taman Perling police station on the same day at around 1am.

“We have arrested the parents aged between the ages of 23 and 33 years at their house in Bandar Dato’ Onn here at 11am to help investigations regarding this case,” he said when contacted.

The boy was found unconscious and was rushed to the Sultan Ismail Hospital by his parents on Wednesday (Dec 26) at around 12am but the doctors pronounced him dead at the emergency ward.

.He said that bruises were found on the victim's body, face, chest and back.

Supt Mohd Afzanizam added that initial investigations had found out that the stepmother is believed to have abused the boy.

“We believe that the boy had been tortured for quite some time based upon the bruises and injuries inflicted on his body. We also found out that the stepmother is an Indonesian national with no passport or identification documents,” he said.

He added that the boy’s father worked as a chef while the stepmother was unemployed.

Supt Mohd Afzanizam said that a post-mortem would be conducted to find out the cause of the victim’s death.

Police are investigating the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

He urged those with information relating to the case to contact the state police hotline at 07-2212999 or lodge a police report at the nearest police station.- Star