Eight-year-old girl dies in Taiping: Police suspect abuse and arrest four family members

 

Penang police chief Datuk Azizee Ismail said the three local men in their 30s are remanded until March 30, while the other five, previously remanded for three days, were released on police bail today. — Picture by Raymond Manuel

IPOH, March 28 — An eight-year-old girl, suspected of being a victim of abuse, died in Taiping on Thursday. The child had several injury marks on her body.

Taiping district police chief ACP Abdul Malek Ismail said his team received a report of the victim's death from a medical officer at Taiping Hospital.

He said the girl was taken to the hospital in an unconscious state at about 12.43pm.

“The attending doctor said cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was administered for 40 minutes to the girl, but the victim did not show signs of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) before being pronounced dead at 1.12pm.

“A further examination found several suspicious injury marks on the victim's body, and the autopsy results indicated that the death was due to head and neck injuries caused by blunt trauma,” he said in a statement today.

Abdul Malek said that following the incident, the police opened an investigation under Section 302 of the Penal Code for the offence of murder.

Meanwhile, police have detained four individuals, comprising two men and two women, aged between 27 and 53, who are also family members of the victim, to assist in the investigation.

“All the suspects have been remanded for seven days starting from March 27 for further investigation,” he said. — Bernama