Boy, 3, dies after being left in car

ATHREE-YEAR-OLD boy died after being locked in a car for more than four hours in an incident in Taman Ria, here, on Tuesday. The boy was pronounced dead on the way from a kindergarten to Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital here.

Kuala Muda district police chief Assistant Commissioner Adzli Abu Shah said the victim was the youngest of two siblings.

He said the victim had been attending the kindergarten for more than a year.

“Before the Movement Control Order (MCO), the 49-year-old headmistress used to pick the victim up from his parents’ house from Sunday to Thursday.

“But, after the MCO, she only picked the victim up every Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Adzli said initial investigations revealed that the headmistress picked the boy up from his house at Taman Ria at 7.45am yesterday.

“Then, the victim was in healthy condition and was sitting in the rear passenger seat. Before the headmistress collected the victim, she had picked up another 5-yearold pupil, who was placed in the front passenger seat.

“But when they arrived at the kindergarten, another teacher brought down the child sitting in the front passenger seat before the headmistress parked her car outside the building.”

Checks at the scene found that the victim was locked in a car with the windows and doors closed.

He said the victim was believed to have been trapped in the car from 8am to 12.15pm.

“The headmistress only realised that the victim was left in the car at 12.15pm when she couldn’t find him in the classroom when she wanted to send the boy home.

“She immediately checked her car when the class teacher informed her that the boy was absent. The boy was found unconscious in the car,” he said.

Adzli said the headmistress then called an ambulance and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the victim, but to no avail.

He said doctors confirmed that the victim died by the time he arrived at the hospital, and that no external injuries were found. The body was later sent to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Star for a post-mortem.

The case is being investigated under Section 31 (1) (a) of the Child Act 2001. Police have detained the headmistress to assist in investigations and have also confiscated the car for further action.