Toddler dies of suspected abuse by father

A one-year-old girl has died of suspected physical abuse by her father at their home in Petaling Jaya, according to police.

Petaling Jaya Police chief ACP Azmi Abu Kassim said the girl's parents took her to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for treatment last Friday night, claiming that she had fallen down the stairs two days earlier.

The doctor detected bruises on the toddler's head, right arm, abdomen and back and lodged a report at the Sea Park police station.

"The cause of death was severe injury to the head," he said in a statement on Monday. Azmi said police investigation showed that the girl was physically abused and the father would be called up for a probe.

"The police investigation also indicated that the injury the girl suffered was not the first as she had been taken to the University of Malaya Medical Centre for a fractured right hand, and the parents had given the same reason then," he said.

Azmi said the parents had been married for 10 years and had three other children, aged four months to eight years, but none of them had any bruises.