MELAKA: A couple has been detained in Melaka after their two-month-old son was hospitalised with serious head injuries, in what police suspect is a case of abuse at a home in Sungai Petai, Alor Gajah.
Melaka police chief Datuk Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said the baby was brought to Melaka Hospital unconscious by his 22-year-old mother, who claimed he had suffered a seizure.
“Medical staff found signs of both recent and older injuries and alerted the police,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The mother was detained at the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) on Tuesday evening. Police also arrested the baby’s father, also 22, as he is believed to have been involved in the abuse.
Dzulkhairi said both are unemployed and reside in Semenyih, Selangor. Preliminary urine tests came back negative for drugs.
Police will seek a remand order at the Alor Gajah Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The case is being investigated under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, which covers child abuse and neglect. A conviction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a RM50,000 fine, or both.
