BUKIT MERTAJAM: A BUDDHIST nun at the Di Cang Chan Si religious centre revealed that she had warned the family of a suspect in the death of a 2-year-old girl to send the woman for medical treatment but no one heeded her.

Jue Cheng said she told the family this after the suspect, a former teacher, slipped into depression ever since her father died about two weeks ago.

"I realised something was not right with her when she became aggressive and attacked me when I told her to stop making noise when she was at our centre. She was beyond control. She claimed she was a goddess.

"Her family, however, refused to take her to hospital, claiming she was fine," Jue Cheng said after leading a prayer ceremony before the toddler was cremated in Berapit here yesterday.

The nun also denied allegations that the Di Cang Chan Si religious centre was a cult movement.

"Whatever ritual that she had performed, it was all her doing and had nothing to do with the teachings at the centre."

Jue Cheng said the suspect and her family were staunch Buddhists and it was unlikely for them to get involved in cult teachings.

The suspect was among six family members and a maid who were arrested following the murder of the girl in an exorcism ritual carried out at the family home in Taman Bukit Minyak in Bukit Tengah, here, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, it was a heartbreaking scene at the crematorium yesterday as relatives proceeded with the funeral without the presence of the girl's parents.

Earlier yesterday, the seven family members who were detained, were allowed to pay their last respects at the Seberang Jaya Hospital mortuary.

The father, who is an engineer, wept uncontrollably as policemen escorted him out from the mortuary while the mother, who is three months pregnant, did not show any emotion.