JOHOR BARU, July 24 — Police have arrested a 36-year-old babysitter for suspected child abuse after a newborn baby who was under her care suffered a broken leg.
Johor Baru South district police chief Assistant Commissioner Raub Selamat said police arrested the woman after the baby’s parents lodged a police report on Sunday.
He said police then arrested woman and is currently under a six-day remand period starting yesterday.
“The suspect will assist investigators in a child abuse case where a two-month-old baby girl suffered a broken left leg at a house in Bandar Datuk Onn here last weekend.
“Police are investigating the case under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001,” he said in a text reply on WhatsApp when contacted by the media today.
Under this section, it is an offence for anyone responsible for the care of a child to abandon, neglect or expose the said child to danger so as to cause him/her physical or emotional injury. If convicted, the offender can be fined up to RM50,000 or jailed for up to 20 years or both.
Earlier, the baby’s injuries were highlighted by her mother, identified as Fione May, on a Facebook post yesterday.
In the posting, in Chinese, May expressed her disappointment about the events that led to her daughter’s injury after picking her up from the babysitter on Saturday.
Earlier, May said she noticed something was amiss with her baby after picking her up from the babysitter’s house.
She claimed that her daughter was constantly crying, while the babysitter had denied that there was anything wrong while the baby was under her care.
She said her daughter was confirmed to suffer a thigh bone fracture on her left leg after a visit to the hospital’s emergency ward on Sunday.
Following that, May together with her husband decided to lodge a police report on the matter.
