KUALA TERENGGANU: A 17-month-old baby boy died yesterday, believed to have been abused by his mother’s boyfriend.
Besut police chief Abdul Rozak Muhammad said the single mother had left the baby in the 27-year-old suspect’s care at 4pm on Tuesday.
“The baby was returned to his mother at 7.30am the following day in an unconscious state and with bruises on several parts of the body,” he said in a statement here today.
Rozak said the baby was pronounced dead at the Kampung Raja health clinic in Besut, and the post-mortem conducted at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital revealed that the cause of death was a leakage in the small intestine.
Police have detained the mother and are tracking down the suspect to facilitate investigation for ill-treatment, neglect, abandonment or exposure of children under Section 31(1) of the Child Act 2001, Rozak said.