KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — A clerk was fined RM5,000, in lieu six months imprisonment, after the Sessions Court here found him guilty today of abusing his five-year-old stepson last February.
Judge Rohatul Akmar Abdullah meted out the sentence on the 32-year-old man after he pleaded guilty to causing the victim to suffer a lump, swellings and bruises on the left side of his head and reddishness in the right eye.
He committed the offence at a house in Cheras at 10am on February 17, and was charged under Section 3 (1) (a) of the Child Act 2001, which is punishable by a maximum fine of RM50,000 or jail of not more than 20 years or both upon conviction.
Mitigating for a lenient sentence, counsel Muhammad Amin Abdullah said his client was the sole breadwinner of his family, comprising a wife who is currently heavily pregnant and three young children.
“The victim is now under the care of his aunt,” Muhammad Amin said.
According to the facts of the case, the victim’s mother witnessed the boy being scolded by the accused for not taking care of his younger sibling who earlier had fallen off a chair and injured his right eye.
The accused then went out to buy ice to help reduce the swelling, and brought the two siblings along, and while waiting for the elevator, the accused began scolding the victim again, before slapping him and causing the boy to land on the staircase and hit his head on the wall.
On February 25, the victim sought treatment at the Ampang hospital, where doctors, after suspecting he was abused, lodged a police report. — Bernama
