A Bangi-area mother is mourning the horrific death of her 11-month old baby daughter this weekend, after she succumbed to injuries that doctors believe were caused by rape, sodomy and abuse at the hands of her caretaker’s husband.
Police report that the baby was admitted to the Serdang Hospital, just outside of Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, with doctors fighting for two days to save her young life before pronouncing her dead at 10:30am Friday.
Area police chief ACP Ahmad Dzaffir Mohd Yussof revealed the horrifying details of her injuries, stating that doctors who examined the girl found her to have a torn hymen, as well as a torn anus and bruising throughout her body. Post-mortem results also showed that she had a fractured skull, and that a blunt-force trauma to the head was the ultimate cause of death.
Her heartbroken mother spoke to reporters from Berita Harian, where she revealed that her daughter, Nur Muarzara Ulfa Muhammad Zainal, or “Zara” as she called her, was sent to a babysitter’s home in the same housing that they all lived in.However, she discovered that it was not the woman who had initially approached her of minding both Zara and her 5-year-old brother for a monthly fee for RM550/month (US$130), but her husband. According to the victim’s mother, the husband called his caretaker wife “slow.”
Both he, and his wife, are now in police custody following Zara’s death, with the husband having tested positive for methamphetamine.
Noraihan Ab Aziz recalls now that her daughter had been sent home on several occasions with bruises throughout her body, but the caretaker had explained that her own son had accidentally injured her. Noraihan added that Zara has started to reject milk, and had swollen lips and gums. At that point, she and her husband decided to send the baby to her husband’s sister’s home instead. However, the couple told Berita Harian that the baby cried while there, and they decided to return her to the caretaker where they believed she would be safe.
Recalling the morning that Zara’s condition became apparent, she told the daily she messaged the babysitter, who assured her that her daughter was fine. However, a few hours later, she received a call from the hospital, telling her that her baby was there, and in a serious condition.
Heartbroken, the mother added that she had no idea the caretaker’s husband was in the picture of taking care of her baby until police told her.
“I feel heart sick whenever I think about what he has done to my baby. I really want to see the person responsible to be severely punished. This is a difficult time for us, and we have accepted Zara’s death as fate. But we want to seek justice,” she said.
Zara’s remains were buries yesterday morning at the Kampung Gong Muslim Cemetery in Kelantan. Our hearts go out to her devastated family.
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