SIBU: Engut Jampong, 64, was shocked when she saw her grandson Bomay Edwin come back from school on Thursday afternoon with bruises on his face and body.

It seemed that the boy, a Primary One pupil at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Buloh in Selangau, had cried hard over some kind of pain which he could not bear.

According to her, it was also unusual for Bomay to return from school at 5pm.

He came back with bruises on his forehead, right cheek, right thigh, lip, right side of his neck and on his back.

There were also signs of his ears being pinched.

“We asked him how he got the bruises. He was reluctant to tell at first.

“He said he was caned by a ‘kakak’ (older sister) at his school,” Engut said when met at Selangau police station yesterday.

He said that the ‘kakak’, who happened to be a Pembantu Pengurusan Murid

(Teaching Assistant) at the school, punished him for stealing another pupil’s T-shirt.

The boy also alleged that the assistant knocked his head against some objects.

“She had no evidence and yet she punished my grandson as if he was guilty.

“I do not mind if she caned him on his leg or palm if he really stole the T-shirt. But I believe he did not,” the farmer from Rumah Ungat at Mile 58 Bintulu/Selangau Road said.

“But the marks on his face and neck are not what I ever expected,” she added.

Curious with the incident, Engut accompanied by Betty Ungat, the daughter of the longhouse chief, went to the school to seek explanation from the assistant.

“She admitted her act,” she said.

Engut lodged a police report that same day before they went to Selangau Health Clinic for a medical checkup.

“I do not want other people’s children to suffer the same fate as my grandson,” she said.

Source: The Borneo Post