Mother who buried son jailed for two years after pleading guilty
By KHAIRAH N. KARIM - 12 November 2015 @ 6:04 PM
House wife Tan Boa Jia pleaded guilty to the charge of assisting her husband in burying their murdered son beneath the kitchen floor. Bernama photo.
KUALA LUMPUR: A mother who disposed her son's body by burying it under the kitchen floor (with cement) of a rented house in Kepong was jailed for two years by the Selayang magistrate's court here.
Regretful Tan Boa Jia, 33, who pleaded guilty to the charge burst into tears when photos of her murdered son were produced before the court.
Magistrate Asyida Abd Rahim Ibrahim ordered for the accused's jail sentence to run from the date of her arrest on May 31.
Tan initially pleaded not guilty on June 12 to causing the disappearance of evidence by burying her nine-year-old Loo Yong Shen Evan inside a house with intention to protect her husband Loo Chon Wen who allegedly murdered the boy.
She committed the offence at No 26, Jalan 10, Taman Usaha Jaya, Kepong at 2pm on March 29. In pleading for a lenient sentence, counsel Kitson Foong said the accused was remorseful and was a victim of circumstance.
"She has been suffering 10 years of physical and emotional abuse and was beaten up by her husband almost everyday. She was not able to tell anybody about it as she was too afraid," he said.
Foong added that Tan has a daughter and son age 10 and seven respectively, who are currently under her brother's care. She hopes to go back and resume taking care of her children after serving her sentence.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Sharifah Zulia Balqish Mat Agil urged for a just sentence and asked the court to consider public interest in sentencing.
On June 12, Tan's husband Loo, 33, was also charged in the same court with murder of their son who was the second of the couple's three children at the same place and time. His case was transferred to the Shah Alam High Court on Sept 4.
The boy's body was discovered in cement under the kitchen floor of the couple's rented house in Kepong after renovation workers detected a foul stench while repairing the place on May 29.
