Z
Zhen Ji
Guest
Published: Tuesday January 25, 2011 MYT 3:39:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday January 25, 2011 MYT 3:47:37 PM
Ex-factory worker freed of flushing her baby down toilet
By PRISCILLA DIELENBERG
GEORGE TOWN: A 21-year-old former factory operator was acquitted Tuesday by a High Court here of murdering her newborn daughter by flushing the baby down the toilet at her workplace.
Nurul Syuhada, from Parit Buntar in Perak, was on trial for the murder of her baby in a women’s toilet of the Jabil factory at Bayan Lepas here between 3.30am and 7am on Dec 30, 2009.
Justice Zamani A. Rahim said that live birth was not proven and the prosecution’s case was further weakened when the actual cause of death was not ascertained.
Nurul Syuhada being whisked away from the courthouse by her father Shamsudin Yahya after she was acquitted of murdering her newborn daughter by flushing the baby down the toilet at her workplace.
He said that Penang Hospital’s senior consultant forensic pathologist Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, who conducted the post-mortem on the baby, had testified that it was possible that the baby had been born alive.
“However, during cross-examination, he admitted it was possible that the baby could have died before full expulsion from the mother’s vagina due to natural causes such as lack of oxygen,” said the judge.
He also said there was no evidence of drowning or suffocation. As such, the court had to draw an inference that was favourable to the accused, he said. Nurul Syuhada Shamsudin cried as the court policewoman removed her handcuffs, and thanked Justice Zamani.
As soon as the court adjourned, her parents Shamsudin Yahya, 50, and Misbah Rabudin, 44, approached the dock from the public gallery and embraced her. They were all in tears.
Shamsudin also gave counsel E. Gnasegaran a grateful hug. The couple then quickly whisked their daughter away. Murder is punishable under Section 302 of the Penal Code with a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
