Secret baby spills out of cupboard

Surprise addition: The baby

SIBU: A 15-year-old boy has been arrested after his pre-teen girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy – and hid the infant in a drawer.

Deputy Sibu OCPD Supt Martin Koo said yesterday that the boy was detained after the girl, 12, claimed he was the father.

“She delivered the baby alone in her adoptive family’s wooden stilt house in Kampung Bahagia Jaya at 6pm on Sunday,” he told the media.

“Afraid that people would find out, she hid the newborn in the drawer of a storeroom cabinet.”

At about 4pm the next day, her 16-year-old adoptive sister was shocked to hear a baby crying in the house.

She found the baby wrapped in a towel in the drawer.

The house owner then alerted police.

Supt Koo said the boy, who is from the same village, has been detained under Section 376 of the Penal Code for rape.

In Butterworth, a 26-year-old Indonesian woman, whose 15-month-old boy died after being allegedly abused, pleaded guilty in the Sessions Court to a child abuse charge.

Known only as Nisa, the woman admitted to neglecting her son which led to the physical injuries he suffered at their home in Paya Lahar Kepah, Kepala Batas, at about 4.30pm on Nov 22.

She was charged under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, which carries a fine of up to RM50,000, a maximum jail term of 20 years or both upon conviction.

Judge Noor Aini Yusof set Jan 5 for sentencing pending medical and post-mortem reports.

No bail was offered.

Nisa was unrepresented while deputy public prosecutor Roslina Idris prosecuted.

It was reported that the boy died on Nov 27 after being in a coma for several days at the Penang Hospital.

On Nov 22, a doctor at the Kepala Batas Hospital discovered bruises on the boy’s head, chest, arms and legs while treating him.

The woman claimed that the boy had knocked his forehead on the floor while playing at home.