Saiful Syazani Saiful Sopfidee

A seven-year-old schoolboy died after he was allegedly tied up and repeatedly assaulted by a teacher at a religious school hostel in Arau, Perlis.

Saiful Syazani Saiful Sopfidee, died at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital at about 8am Sunday.

He was admitted to the hospital with multiple head injuries two days ago.

The beating occurred after the 26-year-old teacher accused the boy of stealing from the hostel on Thursday night.

His adopted mother Hazirah Chin, 38, said she received a call from the school informing her that the boy had been admitted to the Tuanku Fauziah Hospital in Kangar after being injured.

“The teacher, who is also the hostel warden, told me that he needed my consent to transfer Saiful Syazani to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital as his condition was serious.

“When I arrived at the hospital, a doctor told me that he believed my son was tied up before being assaulted as there were rope burn marks on his wrists,” she said when met at the mortuary.

Hazirah said she had raised Saiful Syazani since he was a three-year-old after his mother Jahiyah Che Mat passed away in 2007.

“I decided to send him to the religious school as he was keen on Islamic studies. I last saw him on March 27, when I sent him to his hostel.

“His body will be buried near his mother's grave at the Tok Paduka Muslim Cemetery in Kangar,” she said.

Perlis CID chief Supt Mohd Nashir Ya, when contacted, said the teacher was detained at about 10pm on Saturday pending investigations. The case has since been classified as murder.

He said the police were waiting for the post-mortem report to determine the cause of Saiful Syazani's death.