JOHOR BARU: The children of one of the suspects involved in the murder of a three-year-old boy confirmed that they have seen acts of abuse.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said that the police have interviewed the two children of the 28-year-old suspect.
"We have brought the two children of the suspect to the Children Interview Centre (CIC). There are positive elements of abuse according to the children.
"They said that they had seen the suspect abusing the victim.
"However, I cannot divulge further information on this as it is still under investigation," he told the media.
The two children are five and seven years old.
He said this when met after witnessing the handing over of duty ceremony of the state deputy chief post between Comm Datuk Khaw Kok Chin and Deputy Comm M. Kumar.
Comm Kamarul also said that there are signs of abuse, including bruises on the body of the victim.
"Post-mortem has been conducted on the victim and so far, it is found that there are bruises on the body.
"However, we are still waiting for the full laboratory report to get more details," he said.
He said that the police are also investigating claims that the younger brother of the boy was also abused.
"We have been informed of the matter and will investigate it further," he said.
It was learnt that the family members of the victim had informed an officer from the Welfare Department that the one-year-old brother of the victim was also abused.
Comm Kamarul had said police were notified about the incident after the victim’s father lodged a report between 10pm and 11pm on Sunday (Oct 2) night.
He added police then arrested a 28-year-old salesman, who has priors, and a 40-year-old Indonesian maid on Monday (Oct 3) afternoon.
“The victim’s father works in Singapore while the mother works in Yong Peng. They entrusted their friend, who is the male suspect, to take care of their two children and pay him about RM2,800 a month.
“The victim and his younger sibling, who is a year old, have been under the suspect’s care since three months ago,” he said in a press conference.
The two suspects are being remanded for seven days starting Tuesday (Oct 4).
