2007 08: Baby dies of head injuries

The Star Online. News. Nation. Tuesday August 28, 2007

SUBANG JAYA: The 11-month-old baby, who was battling for his life after allegedly being abused by a foreign maid, died at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) yesterday.

A post-mortem at the Serdang Hospital revealed that Mohd Naim Alma Zaadi's death was due to head injuries.

District OCPD Asst Comm Zainal Rashid said the police have reclassified the case as murder.

“The 32-year-old Indonesian maid, who was arrested on Saturday, is under police custody until Wednesday (tomorrow), pending further investigations,” he said.

The toddler was admitted to SJMC after his father, Alma Zaadi Annwar, 36, noticed that his son looked ill at about 4pm on Wednesday.

About two hours earlier that day, he received a phone call from the maid saying that the child was crying uncontrollably.

He rushed home to pacify his son and then returned to work.

Later, the maid called again with the same complaint.

Suspecting something amiss, the company director rushed his son to SJMC. Mohd Naim later slipped into a coma.

The toddler, the youngest of three siblings, was laid to rest at the Muslim cemetery in USJ 21 here after zohor prayers yesterday.

Met at the burial ground, his mother, Norashikin Mohd Ali, 37, said although she had noticed some bruises on her son, she was not sure how he had sustained it.

“He had just begun to take baby steps and I am still not sure if the bruises were due to an accident or abuse.

“I hope the Government will make it compulsory for all maids to go through a psychiatric evaluation. Our maid did not show any aggressive demeanour for the three months that she worked with us,” said the assistant manager.

The baby’s uncle, Redzuan Yahaya, 47 said the maid showed no signs of remorse when he told her the chances of the baby’s survival was 50-50.

“Even when I told her that she was going to be questioned by the police, she merely answered ‘OK’, which is quite surprising,” he said.