KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — Police took into custody today a woman whose 15-year-old son was discovered severely malnourished, covered in filth and alone at their flat in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, The Star daily reported on its website.
The police are investigating the incident under section 31 (1) of the Child Act 2001, which covers ill-treatment, neglect, abandonment and exposure to physical or emotional injury.
The law also prescribes a maximum jail sentence of 10 years or a fine of RM10,000, or both upon conviction.
“We have obtained an order to remand her till Wednesday,” Nilai district police chief, Superintendent Abdullah Roning was quoted saying.
According to news reports, Immigration officials stumbled upon the 15-year-old boy yesterday during a raid to flush out illegals.
The teen, who was little more than a bag of bones, was found home alone in his Taman Semarak flat, covered in faeces and wearing a torn T-shirt without any trousers.
The flat unit was reportedly filthy with used polystyrene packs scattered all over the place.
The mother, a 40-year-old woman from Tawau, Sabah, has denied abusing her son.
In an earlier report today, Malay daily Berita Harian quoted the divorcee saying she was unable to care for her son who is physically handicapped and had been looking to put him in a home.
The woman reportedly works at a catering company at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
She was quoted as saying that she would leave food for her child before going to work, but the son would scatter the food everywhere.
“It’s dry food and because I can’t afford to buy diapers, he defecates everywhere. When I come back home from work, I’m too exhausted to clean the room. And it so happened that yesterday, there was no water at home, so I couldn’t clean it,” she was quoted saying by Berita Harian.
The boy has been sent to the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban for treatment since being rescued by the Immigration officers and is reportedly in a stable condition.
