AN INDONESIAN maid who pleaded guilty to neglecting a two-year-old, three-month-old boy who later drowned in an adult swimming pool was sentenced to four years in prison by the Sessions Court today.
The accused, Wahyuni Tanjung, 44, was ordered to serve the sentence by Judge Suhaila Haron, starting from the date of her arrest on July 29.
Wahyuni took the victim and her brother to the adult swimming pool without any swimming aids or life jackets, despite knowing that neither could swim and left them unattended when she went to the bathroom.
The accused appeared tearful when shown a photo of the victim's autopsy report; however, she did not appeal for a reduced sentence.
She was not represented by a lawyer and informed the court that her husband had died 14 years ago and that she had a 16-year-old son in Indonesia.
According to the charge, Wahyuni, as the person who had a caretaker relationship with the child, was charged with neglecting the victim, causing his death.
She is charged with committing the offence at the adult swimming pool of a residence in Sentul, between 6 and 7 pm, on July 28, under Section 31(1)(a) of the Children's Act 2001.
According to the facts of the case, on the day of the incident, the victim's mother asked the accused, who was also her maid, to take the victim and his five-year-old brother to bathe in the swimming pool at the residence.
At about 7 pm, the accused contacted the victim's mother to inform her that the child had drowned and was given CPR by members of the public before being taken to Selayang Hospital and placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The child was, however, confirmed dead at 4 am the next morning.
Meanwhile, a post-mortem at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) Forensic Department found that the cause of death was consistent with drowning.
Investigations found that the accused, who had only been working for a month, was charged with taking the victim and his brother to the adult swimming pool without any swimming aids or buoyancy aids, despite knowing that both of them could not swim.
Apart from that, the accused also left them unattended when she went to the bathroom.
Meanwhile, Deputy Public Prosecutor Md Subri Hashim asked the court to impose a suitable sentence as a lesson to the accused and other child care providers out there.
She even requested to serve her sentence in Indonesia, but the judge stated that this could not be allowed because the offence was committed in Malaysia. – August 7, 2026
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