Malaysian man slaps boy to death

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia - Angered by children playing noisily outside his house, a man allegedly abducted and slapped to death a three-year-old boy in Kota Kinabalu.

The body of Shahriqal Sidek, thought to have gone missing at a rubber plantation near his village while playing with his older brothers on Friday, was later found dumped in a stream at Kampung Jempagah on Sunday.

Police recovered the body after they arrested the 30-year-old self-employed man who is the boy's neighbour, reported Malaysia's The Star.

He apparently slapped the boy until he fainted before dumping the boy into the stream, reported New Straits Times.

Beaufort police chief, Deputy Superintendent Mustaffa Maarof Mustaffa, said that after intense questioning, amid a search-and-rescue operation for the boy, the man led authorities to the stream.

"The suspect told us he was irritated by the children playing around the neighbourhood," said Mr Mustaffa.

"He claimed that he had taken the boy in his car and slapped him several times, and the boy died."

MOTIVE

Police, he added, were looking into all angles as the neighbour and Shahriqal's father had an argument recently.

"We believe that there are other motives. We are still questioning him," he said.

Mr Mustaffa said boys playing in the neighbourhood had told police that they had seen the neighbour abducting the child.

"We immediately picked him up," Mr Mustaffa said, adding that police checked the neighbour's house last Friday after Shahriqal's father told them of the argument.

The suspect, who sometimes works as a driver, is married with a child.

His wife is expecting.

Shahriqal was last seen playing with his older brothers - Mohd Syahfuddin, eight, and Mohd Syahrizam, six - outside their house at around 6.30am last Friday.

Their mother, Ms Saminie Rawel, 24, only realised that the toddler was missing when she wanted to breastfeed him but couldn't find him.

She then alerted the police.

Shahriqal's body has been sent for post-mortem and police have classified the case as murder.

This article was first published on November 25, 2014.
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