Police have reclassified the death of a four-year-old child as a murder case after a post-mortem examination revealed the victim died from severe chest injuries allegedly inflicted by his stepmother.
Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad said initial investigations found the child unconscious in a room at a house in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru.
According to police, the victim was discovered by his 23-year-old foreign stepmother, who later contacted emergency services. The child was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.
At the time, an external examination found no visible signs of physical injury, leading authorities to classify the case as a sudden death.
However, the investigation took a dramatic turn after a post-mortem was conducted on June 3.
“The forensic examination confirmed that the cause of death was blunt trauma to the chest,” Ab Rahaman said in a statement.
Following the findings, police reclassified the case as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
Acting on intelligence gathered during the investigation, a team from the Johor Bahru North District Police Headquarters Criminal Investigation Division launched an operation between 12.30pm and 4pm on June 3.
Three foreign nationals were arrested at separate locations around Johor Bahru, including the victim’s 22-year-old biological father, a 32-year-old uncle and the child’s 23-year-old stepmother.
Police said all three were initially detained on suspicion of involvement in the killing.
However, the two male suspects were later released and designated as prosecution witnesses under Section 118 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The stepmother remains the sole accused in the case.
She has since been charged at the Johor Bahru Magistrates’ Court with the murder of the child, allegedly committed on June 2.
The case has drawn public attention following the discovery that the victim’s fatal injuries were only uncovered during the post-mortem examination, despite no obvious external wounds being visible at the time of death.
