A five-year-old boy died at the Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor Bahru, after he was believed to have been abused by his own father and step-mother, at midnight on Tuesday.

Johor Bahru Selatan District deputy police chief Mohd Afzanizam Yahaya said police received a report on the death of the boy from a doctor on duty at the hospital at 12.50am (Wednesday).

He said the victim was sent to the hospital unconscious with bruises and swellings on the right side of the face, chest, stomach and both legs.

‘’The doctor confirmed the boy had died. A post-mortem on the remains showed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the abdomen," he said in a statement tonight.

In a follow-up, Afzanizam said police detained the boy’s 33-year-old father who worked as a chef and his stepmother, 23, an Indonesian national who was unemployed, at their house in Taman Sentosa for further investigation today at 11am.

- Bernama