The Magistrate’s Court here today sentenced a man to 12 months’ jail and fined RM1,500, in default a month’s jail, for concealing the birth of a baby.

Magistrate Teoh Shu Yee handed down the sentence on a factory production operator Muhammad Faiz Zakariyah, 25, who pleaded guilty to the charge.

He was charged with another person still at large with concealing the birth of a seven-month-old foetus by throwing it into a sewage hole of a house in Batu 4 ¼ Kampung Kandang here at 12.30 am last June 7.

According to the facts of the case, Muhammad Faiz’s girlfriend had delivered the premature baby at her rented house in Bukit Baru here and then handed over the dead baby to him.

Following investigation at the scene, the police recovered pieces of flesh, believed to be from the baby’s limbs.

Teoh, when handing down the sentence, said the issue of abandoned babies is an act of irresponsible parents and hoped that the sentence she meted out would serve as a lesson to the society.

She said the incident should not happen as they are non-governmental organisations and the Social Welfare Department that could provide assistance and protect the baby and/or arrange the baby for adoption.

Muhammad Faiz was unrepresented, while the prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Puteri Nor Nadia Mohamed Iqbal.

-- BERNAMA