THE mother of an infant girl who died, reportedly after having been left in a car for more than seven hours, has pleaded not guilty in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court to a charge related to neglect.
Nur Sari Fardiana Mohd Amran, 38, made the plea after the charge was read out before the judge, Dr Syahliza Warnoh, today.
According to the charge, she is accused of committing the offence by leaving the child in the car until she died, in front of a house at Jalan PJU 1A/25, Ara Damansara between 8am and 3.15pm on November 8.
The charge was brought in accordance with Section 31(1)(a) of the Children Act 2001 which relates to “ill-treatment, neglect, abandonment or exposure of children”.
If convicted, she faces a fine of up to RM20,000 or imprisonment for up to ten years, or both.
During the proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor, Anis Hakimah Ibrahim suggested that the accused be granted bail of RM15,000 with one surety.
However, the lawyer, Datuk Hanif Hassan who represented the accused, appealed for a lower amount.
"As a result of the incident, she has been traumatised for a month," he was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian.
After listening to both parties' requests, Syaliza allowed the accused to be given bail at RM7,000 with one surety.
Besides the two-year-old victim, she has two other children.
Nur Sari Fardiana is also required by the court to report to the nearest police station once a month and is prohibited from interfering with prosecution witnesses.
The court set January 30 next year for re-mention of the case and submission of documents.
It was earlier reported that the alleged incident had occurred after the mother forgot to drop off the child at her kindergarten in Ara Damansara.
Petaling Jaya district police chief Mohamad Fakhruddin Abdul Hamid had told the press on November 9 that the incident occurred at 3.40pm the day before.
Initial investigations revealed that the mother had dropped off two of her other children at about 7am at a school nearby. She then proceeded to the victim’s kindergarten.
However, she received a call, believed to be about her online business, when she reached there and forgot to drop the child, he said.
Fakhruddin said she only realised her child was unconscious in the car at her home at 3.35pm.
This is the third such incident in the last two months.
Last month, a 16-month-old baby girl died after she was found unconscious in a car at a public university in Kuala Nerus, Kuala Terengganu.
Initial investigations revealed that the victim’s father had forgotten to send the baby to the daycare centre at the university campus before going to work at the same university.
In early October, an 8-month-old baby girl died after she was left in a car parked at the Canselor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
The girl was mistakenly left in the vehicle when her mother, a doctor at the hospital, went to work thinking that she had already sent the child to a daycare centre. – The Vibes, December 22, 2023
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