Child Found Dead After Allegedly Being Thrown Into River: Invitation to Father to Perform Isyak Prayers Together Becomes Final Memory

KOTA TINGGI: Five-year-old Putri Nur Afiyah Qalesya Mustafa’s invitation to her father to perform Isyak prayers together last night became the family’s final memory of her before she was found dead after allegedly being thrown into a river by her uncle in Kampung Padang, Tanjung Sedili, here.

The victim’s grandmother, Mahani Mad Som, 63, said her granddaughter, the younger of two siblings, had behaved unusually as it was the first time she had ever asked her father to pray with her.

“Yesterday, she behaved very differently from usual. She asked to eat Maggi noodles with a runny egg, and then she invited her father to perform Isyak prayers with her, even though she had never asked him to pray with her before.

“My granddaughter was a very good and intelligent child. Whenever we taught her something, she picked it up very quickly,” she told Bernama when met at her home here today.

Mahani said she realised her granddaughter was missing at about 9am after finishing breakfast and noticing that the child was not on the swing. She then asked the victim’s father to search around the house.

They later found Putri Nur Afiyah Qalesya lying face down in a shallow river channel before her father pulled her out of the water.

“I had a bad feeling when I called out to her near the swing and there was no response. We immediately started searching and found her lying face down. Her father rushed to pull her out of the water,” she said.

A Bernama check found that the river is located about 300 metres from the victim’s home, with access to the location requiring travel through an unpaved plantation area.

Mahani said children in the area had also never gone to the river alone because it was far from their homes and could only be reached through the plantation area.

The victim’s uncle has a history of mental health problems and had previously received treatment at Hospital Permai in Tampoi. He was scheduled to collect his medication at Kota Tinggi Hospital this morning.

Kota Tinggi District Police Chief Superintendent Yusof Othman was reported as saying that a suspect was arrested by personnel from the Kuala Sedili Police Station after police received a report at about 9.30am regarding a man allegedly running amok while armed with a machete.

The motive for the incident is still under investigation, and the case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

BERNAMA