KEPALA BATAS: An Indonesian housewife has been detained by police on suspicion of abusing her son after a doctor claimed that the one-year-old is suffering from haemorrhaging.
The 26-year-old, whose visa expired in March, was arrested on Friday, a day after the boy was admitted into the Kepala Batas Hospital.
The toddler has since been transferred to the Penang Hospital and is reported to be in coma.
The woman had told police that the boy fell down and knocked his forehead on the floor in the living room while playing at their home in Paya Lahar Kepar here at 4.30pm on Thursday.
She also told police that there were bruises on her son's head after the fall and he soon became weak.
The child was taken to the Kepala Batas Hospital when his father, a local, returned home about 4.50pm. The couple married in Indonesia.
Seberang Prai Utara district police chief Assistant Commissioner Noorzainy Mohd Noor, however, said the doctor who attended to the child claimed that there was internal bleeding in the head, leading the doctor to believe that he suffered from haemorrhaging.
"The boy also had bruises on his chest, left leg and under his left eye. Initial checks could not be ascertained if the injuries were voluntarily inflicted or otherwise.
"However, a child specialist at the Kepala Batas Hospital said the serious injuries in the head were the impact from a blunt trauma against the forehead and right cheek.
"There were also other bruises on the boy's bodies of different colour. Doctors believed the injuries were voluntarily inflicted and not a result of an accident," he told newsmen today.
Noorzainy said the boy, who subsequently slipped into a coma was sent to the Seberang Jaya Hospital before being transferred to the Penang Hospital for further treatment.
Noorzainy said neighbours also told police that that they saw the child playing on the five-foot way of the house at 10am on Thursday and was taken out, almost lifeless, about 4.30pm the same day.
"Neighbours claimed whenever the husband goes out, the child would be beaten. If he is around, the wife will act nicely.
"They believed the mother is suffering from a mental disorder as the boy was left alone outside the house, under the rain, when he was still using the baby walker," he added.
The case is being investigated under Section 31(1)(2) of the Child Act 2001.
The foreign woman has been remanded for 14 days to assist in investigation.