Malaysian baby boy died from head injury consistent with violent shaking

SIBU, Malaysia — The nine-month old boy who was allegedly abused by his babysitter and died at the intensive care unit of the Sibu Hospital on Sunday (Jan 13) succumbed to serious head injury, the post-mortem revealed.

Sibu OCPD, asst comm Stanley Jonathan Ringgit said on Wednesday (Jan 16) that according to the post-mortem done by a pathologist from Kuching, Dr Kunasilan Subramaniam, the injury sustained by the boy was not caused by a fall or by any infection.

“The head injury is consistent with violent shaking of the head,” he added.

The post-mortem was conducted at 5:45 pm on Tuesday (Jan 15).

The machine was switched off at 11:30 am on Sunday (Jan 13) with permission from the parents as the baby boy’s heart had stopped beating.

Prior to that, the victim had at, 9:10am on Jan 12, been declared brain-dead by doctors at the hospital.

The boy had been in critical condition and was not conscious when he was rushed to the hospital on Jan 7 with bleeding in the inner part of the brain and on both eyes.

There were fractures on the left side of his head too.

On the day of the incident, the parents, who are teachers, had at 5:45 am dropped him off with the suspect before going to school. However, they came back to the babysitter’s home after receiving a call from her saying that the boy had breathing difficulty.

His parents had been sending him, the youngest of their three children, to the babysitter’s since August last year.

The other victim, a 17-month-old boy who suffered from broken upper teeth and bruises on his two lips has already been discharged.

The Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday (Jan 15) extended by another seven days the remand on the 39-year old babysitter, who was arrested on the evening of Jan 8 , following a report lodged by the parents of the nine-month-old boy.

Magistrate Faizal Saad also ordered that the woman be present in court again on Jan 22 to be charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, which provides for the mandatory death sentence by hanging upon conviction.

The suspect had been taking care of four children at her illegal childcare center on Jalan Permaijaya before the incident happened.