KUCHING: A third-year diploma student, who was arrested on Tuesday following the discovery of a deceased new-born girl at the dumpster of an apartment complex at Jalan Usahajaya, Samajaya here, has been remanded for seven days to facilitate police investigation.
State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief, SAC Dato’ Dev Kumar Sree Shunmugam said further investigation into the case revealed that the new-born girl was alive when she was stuffed into a shoe box before being left in the refuse bin at the complex.
He said in light of the new evidence, police had reclassified the case as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code. The Section carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
On Tuesday, the management of the complex alerted the police after a 36-year-old female cleaner stumbled upon the baby’s body, which was stuffed inside a shoe box, while disposing refuse at around 10.00am.
Acting on information received, a team from CID Kuching, led by ASP Ooi Jin Bing, detained the woman, who hails from Belaga, at her unit in the same complex at around 12.30pm.
Initial investigation revealed the woman had delivered the baby earlier the same day at around 6.30am in the bathroom of the apartment unit.
It was believed that the woman’s boyfriend, who hails from Pahang, had absconded.
