Construction worker finds toddler abandoned at carpark

Rizdwandean Razali, 27, was on the way back to his home in Ayer Keroh here, when he found the child who was fully dressed, at 4.15am.

"I signalled to him and he came running towards me crying non-stop, and just repeated the word 'mama'.

"Then I gave him a bottle of mineral water and a packet of chicken rice before I took him home," he told reporters here today.

He took the child to the Ayer Keroh Police Station at 6.30am to make a police report.

Melaka Tengah deputy police chief Supt Razali Bakar said initial investigations by the police revealed that the child was being brought by a neighbour for a predawn meal before he was found. He said child's mother, who was a single parent and worked as a cook at a cafe in Bukit Beruang was not at home, as she was detained on June 21 to help with investigations into a car theft case.

"Three of the victim's siblings were taken care of by their grandmother in Paya Mengkuang (here), while the boy and an eight-month-old sibling lived with their mother, but they were left at a neighbour's house when their mother worked between 5pm and 2am.

"As of this afternoon, the neighbour who brought the victim for the predawn meal had yet to return home," he said.