10 years living in regret for manslaughter of a child

KOTA KINABALU - The mistake she made of unintentionally killing a child is not the end of the world for a woman who had served 10 years behind bars for the offence at the Kota Kinabalu Women Prison.

The 39-year old woman, known as Clarice who is a mother of four said she was remorseful and determined to live a better life as soon as she steps out of the cell, next year.

She said she looked forward to starting a new life with her family after 10 years of being apart from them.

"This was a mistake I made without realising, so I learned a lot here and regret what I did.

"Life inside these walls taught me the true meaning of life because we were also guided not only to know the value of life, but also about God," she said when met by Sinar Harian.

Reflecting on the crime committed, Clarice said she was initially sentenced to 15 years jail for manslaughter of a three-year-old girl under her care.

"It happened in 2014 when I had just returned home from work and I took the responsibility of looking after the child because her mother was going out to work then.

"At the time of the incident, I was making some milk and the child was sitting on the table and then she fell. I found the child motionless and rushed her to the hospital, but it was confirmed that she had died.

"I surrendered to the police and was sentenced to 15 years jail, but it was reduced to 10 years," she said.

Meanwhile, another prisoner who was involved in a crime admitted that at that time, her desperate situation forced her to get money by deceiving others in a vehicle sale fraud.

Hana, 35, who hailed from Ranau said that she had to commit such crime as she had to support her three children as her husband was unemployed.

"I was involved in a commercial crime case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for fraud of vehicle sale in 2021.

"At that time, it was during the Covid-19 pandemic and I couldn't go out to work, so I sold our car, but at the same time, my husband had also sold the same car and this had caused us to fight to sell the same car," she recalled.

However, Hana admitted that she was grateful because in prison, she had the opportunity to learn about various things including knowledge on religion.

"I am a Muslim convert. Before I went to prison, I knew nothing about Islam, I felt completely empty.

"But after being here, I got to know the Quran, prayers and I am also a representative for the second-level prison memorisation competition and had won the third place last May," she said expressing gratitude to have been given the hidayah (guidance) while she was behind bars.