PUTRAJAYA: After walking free from a charge of murder of a two-year old toddler whose body was found stuffed in a cooler box in 2016, a man today pleaded guilty to child abuse.
A three-man Court of Appeal bench sentenced Mohd Affandi Fauzi Ramlee, 39, to eight years' jail after he made the plea to an alternative charge under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001.
Today was fixed for the decision of the prosecution's appeal against Mohd Affandi's acquittal on a murder charge by the Alor Setar High Court in Kedah on Feb 26, 2019.
However, at the onset of the proceeding, deputy public prosecutor Samihah Rhazali informed the court that the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) had accepted a representation submitted by the respondent's (Mohd Affandi) lawyer for the charge to be reduced.
In handing down the sentence, judge Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said who led the bench said based on the facts of the case, Mohd Affandi had committed a cruel act.
"The pain and suffering the victim went through is unimaginable.
"Based on the submissions by the prosecution and lawyer and having considered public interest, the accused is therefore sentenced to eight years jail," the judge said in the unanimous decision.
The court ordered Mohd Affandi's jail term to run from today.
Judges Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Hashim Hamzah also presided.
During the proceeding, Mohd Affandi's lawyer Kee Wei Lon pleaded for leniency saying that his client had just completed serving a 60-month prison sentence, for abusing the victim's sister who was then four years old.
He said Mohd Affandi was released on April 15 last year and was jobless since.
However, Samihah urged the court to impose a maximum jail sentence due to the seriousness of the offence as well as the series of abuses committed by the respondent against the victim.
"He had kicked, beaten up and did many more things until the victim died.
"He also has a previous conviction of abusing the victim's sister," she said.
According to the alternative charge, Mohd Affandi had abused the victim, Qhairullah Abdul Hadi, 2, who was under his care at a flat in Paya Nahu, Sungai Petani, in Kedah between Oct 24, 2016 and Nov 24 the same year.
The offence under Section 31(1)(a) read together with Section 31 (5)(b) of the Act carries a fine not exceeding RM20,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both, upon conviction.
Based on the facts of the case, Mohd Affandi had punched, pinched, and stamped on the child's head and body several times which broke the victim's ribs.
On Oct 27, 2016, he pushed the victim to the ground before the latter got up again, took a couple of steps and then pushed again.
The victim was found dead by his mother, who was the accused's girlfriend then.
According to the victim's mother, the man had forbidden her to take her child to the hospital to avoid being investigated by the police.
The case was uncovered after the toddler's mother ran to her neighbour for help while cradling her then four-year-old daughter who was critically injured
Following a report, police then discovered the decomposed body of the boy wrapped in a blanket and stuffed inside a cooler box when they visited the flat on Nov 24, 2016.
The girl, who was suspected to be abused, suffered from a broken collarbone and bruises.
