KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 —A former e-hailing driver was sentenced to eight years and six months’ imprisonment by the High Court in Johor Bahru today for abusing a three-year-old boy in 2022, which included forcing the child to eat his own excrement.
Chan Wen Jie, 32, pleaded guilty before Judicial Commissioner Datuk Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor to an alternative charge of child abuse under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, FMT reported.
The father of two was ordered to serve his sentence from his arrest on Oct 3, 2022, perform 36 hours of community service within six months, and execute a three-year good behaviour bond.
In his judgment, Fareed rejected the defence’s argument that the acts, captured on closed-circuit television, were merely intended to discipline the toddler.
“The accused not only caned the victim but also slapped him, hit him on the head and forced him to do squats, stand for long periods and eat his faeces from his disposable diaper.
“Forcing the child to eat faeces was a cruel and degrading act that could in no way be considered a form of discipline. If the accused was unable to care for the victim, he should have handed the child back to his father,” he said.
Chan was originally charged in 2022 with murdering the boy, Lee See Jie, at a house in Taman Skudai Ria, Skudai, on Oct 2.
The capital murder charge was subsequently withdrawn, with the court clarifying that it did not weigh the initial murder charge or the child’s cause of death when determining the sentence for the abuse offence.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Edelynn Wong and Nur Diyana Zubir prosecuted, while K. Sarawanakumar and Freda Sabapathy represented Chan.
