Child abuse: Nancy Shukri to monitor child care centres starting next week

KUALA LUMPUR - Newly-minted Woman, Family and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri says she will go on the ground to monitor child care centre next week in a bid to combat child abuse in the country.

Nancy said this was an important step to be conducted to ensure that those involved in child protection activities were really passionate people.

“I need to work on the ground so that I can understand what is happening,” she said at a press conference after officiating a political forum here today.

She was referring to the nation’s sensational issue where Bella, 13-year-old with Down Syndrome who was allegedly abused by her caretaker Siti Bainun Ahd Razali.

“We need to see why this incident happened.

“The best thing is to get the info from the original source, we haven’t discussed this in detail yet (but) we will look thoroughly into this,” she said to the reporters.

Nancy also expressed her utmost disappointment on what happened to Bella and warranted that such an incident should not recur in the future.

Last Nov 24, the court ordered Siti Bainun to enter her defence on charges of neglecting and abusing Bella after finding that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against her at the end of the prosecution case.

She was charged with committing the offences, resulting in the girl suffering physical and emotional injuries, at a condominium unit in Wangsa Maju between February and June 2021.

The charges, framed under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, provide imprisonment for up to 20 years or a maximum fine of RM50,000 or both if convicted.