'Neighbour called to apologise,' says mother of boys poisoned by 'monkey trap' snack

GEORGE TOWN - Neighbours of two brothers who were critically ill after eating crackers suspected to contain rat poison contacted the victim's mother on Tuesday night.

Nurain Hasnorizal, 25, said her neighbour's mother called her at 10pm to apologise for the incident.

"The neighbour called (at) 10pm (Tuesday). His mother called to apologise and said her son put the poison.

"I said it's okay, things have happened, there's nothing else we can do. I don't know what to say.

"I cannot say more in this kind of situation. Sometimes even when my mother calls, I don’t even have time to pick up the phone because I'm inside the ward," she said when met at the Penang Hospital (HPP) Forensic Department here on Wednesday.

Commenting further, Nurain said she also accepted it when people blamed her for the incident.

"No matter what people say (on social media), only we know what really happened. People just comment, they don't know.

"My son only plays outside the house, we don't neglect the children," she added.

Previously, Nurain was reported to have said that she still could not think of the next course of action against the neighbour because she wanted to focus on her two children first.

Muhammad Akil Syauqi Nur Sufian, 3, and his younger brother Muhammad Luth Syauqi, 2, were previously reported to be critical after eating crackers believed to contain rat poison in Kampung Padang Ubi, Labu Besar.

Police investigation revealed that the two brothers allegedly took a packet of crackers from an iron wire fence, which contained poison meant for trapping monkeys.

The incident was noticed by the victim's mother at 11am at home before taking her two children to the Malau Health Clinic and Kulim Hospital (HK) for further treatment.

However, this morning, Akil succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment at the HPP Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).