By M. Mageswari

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - A beauty salon worker was re-charged with lodging a false police report over the death of her five-year-old daughter who was found lying naked and unconscious in her car.

Loo Mei Foong, 24, is said to have lodged the false report on Feb 20 to Kpl Mohd Radzi Hashim.

The report had said her daughter Cheah Sieow Eng died in her car in Kepong.

Loo had earlier been charged on March 3 with making a false report with the intention to stop investigations into the child's death but was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal recently.

She is accused of making the report to stop investigating officer ASP Tan Chek Yang from conducting further investigation into the girl's death.

She reportedly claimed that she had left her daughter in the car for an hour while she went to get groceries at a sundry shop in Kepong.

She claimed that she found her daughter lying motionless and naked in the car when she returned. She rushed her to the Selayang Hospital where the girl was pronounced dead.

Dr Norafidah Mohd @ Mohd Noor, from the Selayang Hospital emergency ward, who examined the girl, had lodged a report over the matter the same day.

According to court documents, the doctor confirmed detecting bruise marks on the girl's body.

The post-mortem report revealed that the girl had strangulation marks on her neck and that her mouth and nose had been blocked before she died.

If convicted, Loo can be jailed up to six months or fined a maximum of RM2,000 ($829.4), or both, under Section 182 of the Penal Code.

Clad in an orange T-shirt and white track bottom yesterday, Loo asked a court interpreter to read her the charge again in Mandarin.

Loo then pleaded not guilty.

Prosecuting officer Chief Insp Muhammad Mohd Jais asked the court to set bail at RM6,000 in one surety. She couldn't raise bail and so she was taken to the Kajang prison.

Magistrate Mohd Faizi Che Abu set Feb 20 for mention, pending the appointment of a lawyer.