Maid jailed 5 years for killing her baby boy

By M. MAGESWARI

The Star Online

KUALA LUMPUR: An Indonesian maid was jailed five years for causing the death of her newborn baby boy and dumping his body in a rubbish bin.

Unah Suma, 28, wept when she was asked to confirm the photographs of her newborn in court.

She shook her head when a court interpreter asked her to check the post-mortem photographs and sobbed openly.

The small-sized woman wiped her tears using the sleeve of her jacket and bowed her head.

The High Court was told on Wednesday that Unah, who had worked with a furniture shop owner since August 2005, held the head of her newborn and used her hand to close his mouth as well as his nose which resulted in his death at 1.25am on June 3, 2007.

Her fellow maid, Nina Listianingsih saw her commit the crime. Unah, who is a divorcee, told Nina that her baby had died and that she had to throw him because she did not have money to take care of him.

Unah, who is also a mother of three-year-old boy, put her dead baby inside a black plastic bag and kept it in a box at her room.

At 7am, Unah threw the plastic bag into a garbage bin in front of her employer's house in Jinjang.

Nina told her employer about Unah's actions and her employer lodged a police report over the matter.

At the court proceedings earlier, her lawyer Raftfizi Zainal Abidin, said his client had been raped by her employer's drunk nephew and she had been traumatised by the incident.

"The accused did not lodge a police report as she did not know the law in Malaysia and was scared that her employer would find out about the incident and she would lose her job.

"She is a victim of circumstances. His death is also a punishment for her as she is the biological mother and she will have to carry the burden of her action forever in her life.

"Please give her a lenient sentence as she has a young child in Indonesia to take care of," he said.

Raftfizi, whose voice faltered and was choked with emotion, said his client was depressed and could not think clearly over her actions.

"She was scared and panicked that the voice of her newborn would wake everyone who was asleep at that time and had just closed his mouth for a while but his cries stopped," he said.

DPP Nor Asma Ahmad, however, pressed for a deterrent sentence saying that the court had to consider public interest.

She said the public was often being exposed to baby dumping and murder cases at surau, public toilets and garbage dumping sites.

"It is really a sad trend. Even animals love their babies, what more human beings who should have the sense of responsibility to take care of their children," she submitted.

Unah had admitted on Wednesday to an alternative charge of committing infanticide. She claimed trial at a magistrate's court when she was originally charged for murder of her baby.

In sentencing her, High Court Judicial Commissioner Zainal Azman Ab Aziz said he considered the post-mortem report which stated that there were injuries on the baby's cheek, mouth, neck and head due to her actions.

"If she only closed his mouth, he would not have been injured like that," he said.

"I also considered the finding of a medical report which stated that the baby was healthy. He would have been two years old if he was alive now," he said.

Justice Zainal said he set aside the factor that Unah had lost control saying that she still had a friend, Nina, who could have helped her to solve her problem.

"If you are alone, you are depressed, I could have accepted (your explanation)," he said.

Justice Zainal said he felt sad when he saw the photographs of the baby.

"I am also a father. I cannot not accept this. Your motherly instinct should have been strong. You already have a child in Indonesia.

"You should have loved this child although you did not like his father and what had happened to you. He was still your child. You should not vent your anger on the baby," he said.

Justice Zainal said Unah should have sought Nina's help and the baby could have cared by the welfare department.

He said he had to impose an appropriate sentence in view of public interest and ordered her to serve five years in jail from her date of arrest on June 3, 2007.