JOHOR BARU: A sombre mood enveloped the Forensics Department of the Sultan Ismail Hospital here when a woman bid her final farewell to her youngest child before the boy, who allegedly died from abuse, was wrapped with kain kafan (shroud).
The 39-year-old woman, who is an inmate at Simpang Renggam prison in Kluang, near here, was given five minutes to see her son after the process of bathing and enshrouding the remains was completed.
Clad in purple prison uniform, the woman was seen crying as she alighted from the Prisons Department van which brought her there, accompanied by two prison warders.
It is learnt that the woman, a mother of 11, was only told about the incident upon her arrival at the mortuary as the warders wanted to control the mother's emotions throughout the journey from the prison.
The child's grand uncle, Ruslan Ahmad, 47, expressed his dismay over the incident.
Although he did not blame the child's mother, he was upset that the boy was not handed back to him or the Social Welfare Department when the woman was arrested again by police in September.
"I am extremely upset. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have saved him, and not handed him over to his mother.
"At that time, I was told that the boy's mother had recovered and was released (from detention). She begged to take her child back, therefore the department and I discussed it and decided to give her a chance.
"Under her mother's care for a month, I was told that the boy was doing fine. I also asked about him daily and they informed me that he was doing fine.
"However, over time I failed to contact the boy's mother and when I was told about the incident, only then I found out that the boy's mother was arrested again and he was under the care of the sister," he said when met at the department where he had gone to claim the remains of the boy, known as Lokman.
Ruslan, who is the uncle of the child's father, said he had been given temporary custody by the department when the victim's parents were jailed due to drug cases several years ago.
The boy's father, who is in his 40s, is detained at Sungai Udang prison in Melaka.
Ruslan, who also took care of the boy's sibling, said he accepted what happened as fate.
"I took care of the boy for a month before he was placed under the department's care for three years. Then I was given custody for another month before the boy was handed over to his mother," he said.
He later took the remains of the victim back to Labis, Segamat, to be buried at the Sungai Gatom Muslim cemetery.
He said he hoped police investigations into the case would be carried out fairly and that those involved would be given appropriate punishments.
The 4-year-old boy died on Monday after being referred to HSI. He became unconscious at his house in Senggarang, Batu Pahat.
State police chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat later confirmed that there were new and old injuries all over the child's body, including burn marks believed to have been caused by a hot or heated metal rod, including on the private parts, and bite marks on the ears.
He had said the victim was initially cared for by his sister, who is the eldest of 11 siblings, since September.
Kamarul Zaman said police arrested the boy's sister and her husband, both of whom have no permanent employment, to facilitate investigations into the case.
Also arrested were three others aged between 15 and 37, who are friends of the victim's sister.
