‘Grandaunt’s fears unfounded’

PETALING JAYA: The young girl who cried buckets when she was taken away from her grandaunt, who lost custody of her, is now staying with her mother.

“I’m taking care of her while her grandmother buys new clothes for her and enrols her in school here,” said the 22-year-old woman when contacted in Kulai, Johor.

Last Thursday, the seven-year-old child refused to let go of her grandaunt, who cared for her for the past three years but had to give her up to comply with a court order.

The grandaunt began caring for her ever since the girl complained to her that her father and grandparents had sexually abused her.

A police report was lodged but the case did not proceed further due to a lack of evidence.

China Press reported then that a medical examination found injuries in the girl’s private parts.

Subsequently, the grandaunt won temporary custody of the girl for the period from 2013 till June last year.

However, a court ordered in November last year that the custody be given back to the girl’s father and grandparents despite a recommendation by the Welfare Department against it.

The grandaunt was supposed to appeal against the court decision but decided not to do so in view of the RM30,000 legal fee.

She surrendered the child last Thursday, which led to a drama outside the courtroom here where the girl was dragged away into a car where her mother was.

The girl’s mother admitted that the child cried for half an hour on the way back home.

“She was in a good mood again when we stopped by the Malacca Zoo – on the way to Kulai,” said the homemaker.

She dispelled notions that her daughter was afraid of her grandparents.

“The grandaunt’s fear is unfounded. The girl is calm around them,” she claimed.

“She was very happy to learn to ride a bicycle here,” said the woman, who has another two children – aged one and five – with her second husband.

The stepfather, a mechanic, posted photos on Facebook of the girl hanging out with his two children.

In response to criticisms that she abandoned the child when she was barely two-months-old, the mother said: “I was only 15 then, I didn’t know what to do. Now I can take better care of her.”

She also promised that she would allow the grandaunt and granduncle to contact the girl.