Yesterday (Wednesday, 5th July), a devastating tragedy struck a family in Kampung Bukit Piatu, Melaka, when a nine-year-old boy died after he was reportedly strangled by his elder brother. Even more shocking, the entire incident was witnessed by their mother!
According to a witness, the mother informed her that she saw her older son choking the victim through a closed-circuit television (CCTV) recording streamed on her mobile phone application. She also added that the suspect appeared to be unaware of what he was doing towards his younger sibling.
Following the shocking incident, the father of the victim and the suspect, Najli Yakob, revealed that he noticed a change in his elder son’s attitude since last year after falling victim to bullying at his boarding school. Speaking in an interview with NST, Najli claimed that his son has been bullied since he was in Form One, but he remained silent about it.
The 42-year-old man said, “He called his mother quite frequently but initially I thought it was normal for children who study in boarding school; until he came home with injury marks and scars. This is when we lodged a complaint with the school authorities and made a police report. He had complained that he was bullied by two seniors at school where he was choked while sleeping. He was also splashed with water, kicked, and beaten up.”
Najli further revealed that this wasn’t the first time such incident occurred. According to him, the boy had choked him and his wife before. “I fetched him from school and not long after arriving back home he suddenly screamed and choked me. Because of his change in attitude, we allowed him to study at home for the time being so that my wife and I can take him for treatment,” he told the publication.
Although he has fully accepted the loss of his younger son, Najli still hopes for the culprits who bullied his son to be punished so that other students will never encounter similar incidents in the future. “I feel so guilty for leaving the two of them together. My heart sank when my wife informed me that my late son has passed away,” the local masseur was quoted as saying.
In a more recent update, Berita Harian reported that the teenage boy has been remanded for seven days in accordance with Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Sources: NST, Sinar Harian, BH Online.
