KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Four teenagers have been arrested over the murder of a 20-month-old girl, according to The Star Online.

The news portal said that the murder allegedly took place at Kg Egang-Egang on Bum-Bum Island when the girl’s mother had asked the four teenagers — aged between 16 and 19 — to take care of the girl when she was away.

It is reported that the four suspects were the victim’s mother’s housemates. One of the suspects slapped the girl and threw her onto a bed when she would not stop crying.

The suspect then pulled the girl towards her, and the latter’s head hit the metal frame of the bed.

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“Another suspect then stepped on the toddler’s back,” Semporna police chief Supt Sabarudin Rahmat reportedly said.

The mother, a 23-year-old divorcee later returned home and saw that her child was looking weak and pale and did not seem to be breathing.

The child was brought to the Semporna Hospital but was pronounced dead about six hours later.

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The mother then lodged a police report at about 7.30pm and the suspects were arrested two hours later.

Police are investigating the case as a murder.