KUCHING, March 14 — The High Court here today sentenced a housewife to 30 years in prison for the murder of her husband’s three-year-old nephew.
Judicial Commissioner Zaleha Mohd Yusof Pan handed down the sentence against Elora Duka after she pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which provides for the death penalty or a minimum 30 years in jail and caning upon conviction.
Elora committed the offence against the child at a house in Lundu on April 1, 2021, at approximately 8pm.
According to the case facts, Elora brought the victim to the emergency department of Lundu Hospital on the day of incident at 9pm, claiming he had choked and suffered a seizure.
An examination by a medical officer found the victim in a weakened state with a weak pulse, prompting immediate emergency treatment.
Given the severity of his condition, the victim was referred to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) at 11pm the same night and was admitted to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.
The following day, at 12.25pm, an SGH medical officer confirmed the toddler’s death and lodged a police report, leading to Elora’s arrest on April 7, 2021.
Based on the police investigation, the child had been in a healthy condition prior to the incident and wished to lie down after dinner.
Elora told him not to do so, warning that it would cause him to have stomach pain, and the child began to cry.
Fearing others might hear his cries and suspect abuse, Elora attempted to silence him in a fit of anger.
She grabbed the child’s shoulders and shook him violently, causing his head to hit the floor multiple times as the mattress he was lying on had shifted.
She then pressed down on his neck as if strangling him and applied pressure to his stomach several times.
Elora claimed she had acted out of frustration because he would not stop whining.
When the child became unconscious, she left him on the floor and went to feed her cat.
Her son then alerted her that something was wrong with the victim, who was gasping for air.
She contacted her husband, who was at his mother’s house, and they brought the child to Lundu Hospital together.
A post-mortem conducted on April 6, 2021, determined that the cause of death was head and intra-abdominal injuries due to blunt force trauma.
Deputy public prosecutor Aida Nurdiana appeared for the prosecution, while Elora was represented by lawyer Timothy Finlayson Joel. — The Borneo Post
