KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: He was a babysitter and father figure to a toddler, but when she did not stop crying, he slapped and hit her.

He then did the unthinkable - he placed a cushion on the crying toddler and sat on it - and the baby died instantly.

Megat Shahrizat Megat Shahrur's actions caused the 2-year-old child's liver and pancreas to rupture, and for that he was sentenced at the High Court yesterday to 15 years' jail.

Judge Lim Yee Lan, in delivering her judgment, said Megat Shahrizat, 30, charged with culpable homicide not amounting to the murder of Nur Izzatul Shahira Rozilan, 2, had offered to care for the child as her mother was away.

"He was also close to the victim but he betrayed the child's trust in him as a father figure and caused her injury instead."

She said she took into consideration Megat Shahrizat's remorse and intention to return to society.

"I am mindful that this is a serious offence and public interest requires the appropriate sentence," she said, ordering the sentence to run from the date of his arrest on June 4, 2001.

Megat Shahrizat was charged with committing the offence in an apartment at Sri Suajaya Condominium, Jalan Kampung Bandar Dalam, Sentul, between 10.45pm on June 3, 2001 and 1.30am the next day. He was arrested on the same day and charged with murder.

After a full trial of seven years, the judge decided that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case for murder, but they succeeded in proving that Megat Shahrizat had caused the injuries which led to the baby's death.

Prosecution had called 10 witnesses, among them, the toddler's mother and two others, all of whom were housemates with Megat Shahrizat at the time of the incident.

According to the pathologist, the liver and pancreas were sandwiched between the body weight (of the accused) and the backbone (of the child), causing them to rupture or tear. -NST