Cop rescues starving Penang girl

BUTTERWORTH — An abandoned seven-year-old girl, weighing just over 7kg, remains traumatised and weak after being rescued from a flat in Tasek Gelugor, Penang on Thursday (Jan 14), said Malaysian police.

She had been left all alone in the dark without food and water, while her father and his new family lived in a flat just across the unit she was in. 

The seven-year-old girl was rescued on Thursday night after her teacher lodged a police report earlier in the day. The child had not attended school since Monday, but her father had collected the RM100 (S$37.30) aid meant for pupils on the same day. The teacher then suspected something amiss. 

Police decided to inspect the unit after questioning her 34-year-old father, who was uncooperative. “All the other children had food and clothes,” said North Seberang Prai district police chief Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Abdul Rahman Ibrahim on Friday (Jan 16). “She asked for food and to be carried.” He added: “The team saw her standing in the dark when they opened the door. There was no electricity or water in the flat."

ACP Abdul Rahman Ibrahim updated yesterday that she had little to eat over the past two weeks. “She is seven-years old and she is not supposed to weigh that low,” he said.

ACP Abdul Rahman said the girl was receiving treatment at the Seberang Jaya Hospital and was unable to eat solid food. “A specialist is attending to her and the investigating officer (Inspector Hasmah Mustappa Ramdzan) who found her, is staying by her side at the hospital,” he said. “She is on a soft diet.”

He said the girl needed special attention to overcome her trauma. “She needs a lot of love and care, and she also needs to be pampered,” he said, adding that “(Inspector) Hasmah said she was disheartened when she saw the girl’s condition. She was unable to control her emotions when she saw the girl.”

ACP Abdul Rahman said the police had not recorded the victim’s full statement and they were waiting for the medical report. The girl will be handed over to the Welfare Department when she gets discharged from the hospital.

ACP Abdul Rahman said the girl’s father, a petrol station pump attendant, will be remanded until tomorrow. The police have not been able to trace the victim’s mother, an Indonesian, whom they believed had returned to her country of origin.

While neighbours claimed the girl’s stepmother told them she had kept the girl indoors and starved her as the girl was “possessed by evil spirits”, the police are uncertain whether the woman, in her 30s, was involved as investigations are ongoing. The police will record a statement from the stepmother and other people, including the victim’s neighbours.

Neighbours also said the seven-year-old girl was not allowed to play with other children. “I was told by her brothers and sisters that she was not allowed to go out of the house,” said 16-year-old Azzat Nordin,. The girl’s 5 other siblings were allowed to mix with other children.

Azzat said he found that the girl had to be locked up in the flat where the family used to live until they moved out to another nearby unit. “I was told that there was no electricity in the unit and she was kept in the dark,” he said, adding that the girl often kept to herself and did not make much noise despite being locked up.

Neighbour Aishah Mazita said she learnt that the electricity and water supply to the flat had been disconnected, therefore, the girl’s family rented another unit opposite the place they were staying.

Security guard Ahmad Suhaimi Abdullah said he used to see the girl’s father around the flats’ vicinity and he seemed friendly.

“We just nodded to each other but did not talk much,” he said. “I cannot believe that he can do such a cruel thing to his own daughter.” THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE