Rohingya teen charged with murder after newborn allegedly thrown from Johor hotel window

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 — A 19-year-old Rohingya woman has been charged with murder after police alleged she gave birth in a Johor hotel bathroom before throwing her newborn from a second-floor window.

The baby’s body was discovered inside a black plastic bag near Taman Nusa Idaman in Johor Bahru in the early hours of July 5, triggering an investigation that led officers to the teenager.

Iskandar Puteri police chief Assistant Commissioner M. Kumarasan said investigators found the baby was the result of the suspect’s relationship with her former boyfriend.

“Investigations found that the suspect gave birth to the baby in the bathroom of a nearby hotel room before placing it in a black plastic bag.

“She then threw it through the window of the second-floor hotel room into the alley below the building, where the baby was found,” he said in a statement today.

Police received a report about the discovery at 2.39am. Officers from the Iskandar Puteri District Police Headquarters’ Criminal Investigation Department arrested a 34-year-old local man at the scene before detaining the teenager at a hotel in the Bukit Indah area at about 4am the same day.

Both suspects tested negative for drugs following urine screening, Kumarasan said.

Checks also found that the man has two previous records involving criminal and drug-related offences, while the teenager has no prior criminal record.

Following the investigation, the Johor Deputy Public Prosecutor’s Office directed that the teenager be charged with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

“The male suspect will be called as a prosecution witness,” Kumarasan said.

The teenager was due to be charged at the Johor Bahru Sessions Court today.