Death of toddler left in car: Caregiver fined RM10,000

SIBU: A caregiver was fined RM10,000 in default two years in prison after she pleaded guilty in the Magistrates’ Court here yesterday to leaving a three-yearold girl in a car last year , which resulted in the child’s death due to heatstroke.

Magistrate Flavian Edward Henry meted out the fine on Nurul Fatirah Sazali, 28, from Kampung Bungin, Spaoh under Section 33(b) of the Child Act 2001, which provides for a fine not exceeding RM20,000, or up to five years in prison, or both, upon conviction. The court also ordered the accused to perform community service for 36 hours within six months from yesterday.

Nurul Fatirah paid the fine. The woman was charged with leaving the toddler without reasonable supervision in a car at the parking lot of Tiong Guang Sawmill at Jalan Chew Kung in Empawah here, at 1.10pm on March 30 last year.

Based on the facts of the case, she had left the child in the car for about five hours that day, starting from around 11.30am, before going about her daily tasks.

The child’s mother realised the girl was not in the house when she returned from work and, upon checking the car, found the toddler motionless and rushed her to Sibu Hospital.

A medical officer pronounced the child dead at 7.46pm, with a post-mortem later determining the cause of death as ‘heatstroke due to vehicular entrapment’.

Nurul Fatirah was arrested by police following a report lodged by the victim’s uncle.

Prosecuting the case was Insp Kumareswaran Murugan, while Nurul Fatirah was unrepresented by legal counsel.