Mother, friend sentenced to 35 years' jail for murder of toddler

KUALA LUMPUR - A mother and her female friend were sentenced to 35 years in prison by the High Court, here today, after being found guilty of the murder of a 23-month-old baby boy at a house in Presint 5, Putrajaya, five years ago.

Judge Datuk Muhammad Jamil Hussin meted out the sentence on the baby's mother, Nor Aisyah Mohd Yunus, 40, and her housemate, Noor Aisyah Ibrahim, 37, after finding that the defence failed to raise any reasonable doubt at the end of the defence case.

"After examining the testimony of all the defence witnesses, including the two accused, the court found that the two accused failed to provide an explanation as to how the victim got injured, while they admitted that the victim was in the house at the time of the incident.

"Therefore, the court sentenced each accused to 35 years imprisonment, starting from the date of arrest on Nov 4, 2019,” said the judge.

According to the charge sheet, the two women, who are civil servants, are jointly charged with the murder of the toddler at a house in Jalan P5A/5 Phase 5R4, Presint 5, Putrajaya, between the middle of September 2019 and Nov 4, 2019.

The charge was framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code, and read together with Section 34 of the same law, which provides for the death penalty or imprisonment for a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 40 years, and if not sentenced to death, shall be subjected to not less than 12 strokes of the rattan.

Deputy public prosecutors, Norashikin Ibrahim, Mohd Isa Mohamed and Noor Dayana Mohamad, appeared for the prosecution, while the two accused were represented by lawyers Najib Zakaria and Mohd Azrul Hasyimi Mohammad.

A total of 19 prosecution witnesses and nine defence witnesses, including the two accused, were called to testify at the trial, which began in November 2021.

The media previously reported that the toddler was brought by his parent to Serdang Hospital with 89 bruises, swelling and injuries all over his body.

The results of the post-mortem revealed that the cause of death was injuries to the hip and liver due to blunt force trauma. - BERNAMA