LIMBANG: The case of a badly injured 3-year-old boy found unconscious in his home and later pronounced dead at hospital here on Thursday has been reclassified from “sudden death” to murder.
Post-mortem results on the toddler, conducted at the Miri Hospital, revealed that he had died from asphyxiation due to smothering.
Police arrested the boy’s stepmother after initial post-mortem results at the Limbang Hospital were found to contradict claims in a police report she lodged on her stepson’s death.
Sarawak Criminal Investigation Department chief SAC Datuk Dev Kumar said the woman, 22, was arrested at her home at 7.10pm yesterday to facilitate an investigation into the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
“In the police report lodged on Thursday, the woman claimed she was in the kitchen while the boy was playing alone, before he was found lying unconscious in the bathroom.
“She later rushed the victim to the Limbang Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“(But) an examination by doctors showed that there were bruises on various parts of the boy’s body, which was inconsistent with the stepmother’s claim (that nothing happened before he was found unconscious),” Dev said in a statement.
“She will be produced for remand this morning and will be questioned further on the circumstances leading to her stepson’s death,” he added.