A 7-Year-Old Girl Was Allegedly Forced To Drink Boiling Water By Her Stepmother
The victim's mother has lodged a police report on the alleged abuse.
By Tang Ruxyn — 13 Feb 2018, 10:57 AM
A young girl who suffered severe burns on her lips was allegedly forced by her stepmother to drink boiling water
The incident is believed to have happened last week on 5 February, just one day after the seven-year-old girl was sent back to her father's house in Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan, by her biological mother, Nurul Dahlia Jaafar.
The victim's mother only found out about the incident after she went back to pick up her daughter, who is the youngest of her four children, from her ex-husband's sibling's home at about 12.30pm Friday, 9 February.
"When I went to pick her up for the holidays, I was shocked to see burn marks across my child's lips," Nurul Dahlia said, as reported by Utusan Malaysia.
"When I asked her what happened, she told me that she was forced to drink boiling water by her stepmother."
It was learned that the 35-year-old mother took her daughter to Hospital Kuala Lumpur for treatment on the same day, before she lodged a police report on the incident.
However, the religious school teacher claimed that the police did not take any further action.
"When I lodged a report, there was no follow-up action or settlement reached because they considered this a domestic issue," she was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.
It was learned that Nurul Dahlia separated from her ex-husband in 2011. She then handed over custodial rights of their four children to him when she underwent some financial difficulties.
According to Nurul Dahlia, many changes took place after her ex-husband remarried in December 2016.
Apparently, this is not the first time an alleged abuse took place in the household
Prior to this incident, her second child aged 13 once told Nurul Dahlia that they were beaten by their stepmother, but she didn't take the allegations seriously since no injuries were found.
"Since my ex-husband married his wife a year ago, various incidents have happened, and I was not even allowed to visit my children who is under his care. Up till now, I have failed to contact my ex-husband and text messages have gone unanswered," she reportedly said.
It was also said that her two youngest children would be very happy to go home with her, but they would cry and ask to not be sent back to her ex-husband's house.
Meanwhile, the authorities have confirmed that the police received a report on the matter
Bernama reported Nilai OCPD Supt Zaldino Zaludin as saying that the police received the report on Saturday from IPD Dang Wangi and the case is in its initial stage of investigation.
Zaldino said that the police will obtain the medical report from Hospital Kuala Lumpur to assist in the investigation.
He also denied allegations that the police did not conduct any follow-up because the investigating officer at IPD Nilai had considered the matter to be a domestic issue, adding that all cases will be investigated justly.