Gardener blames victims' guardians for tragic rat poison incident and seeks justice after his arrest

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Last July, an incident made headlines in which two brothers died after eating crackers laced with rat poison.

The victim, three-year-old Muhamad Akil Syauqi, died while receiving treatment at the Penang Hospital (HPP). His two-year-old brother, Muhammad Luth Syauqi, died a day after his brother's death on July 12.

It is believed that the two victims ate poisoned crackers that had been hung by gardeners on a chain-link fence near their house to keep away wild animals such as monkeys that could damage the crops.

A 33-year-old gardener was remanded in custody for six days in support of investigations under Section 31(1)(a) of Act 611 concerning child neglect and Section 284 of the Penal Code concerning irresponsible use of toxic chemicals.

Recently, however, gardener Uzair Shafawi published a post on his Facebook account explaining his point of view.

He claimed that the incident was due to the negligence of the caregivers of the deceased victims.

He also expressed his disappointment that no action was taken against the legal guardians of the two victims.

“I am the gardener who was arrested due to the negligence of the mother and guardian of the two victims. I spent eight days in jail for no reason. Action was only taken against me. The mother and grandfather of the victims have still not been charged,” he said.

The position of the crackers

To give viewers a visual representation of the exact placement of the poisoned firecrackers intended to catch wild animals, Uzair also included a video in his Facebook post.

In the video, he demonstrated that the fence was 1.37 meters high and provided measurements to prove this.

He also pointed out that the fence was not built on the side of the road but next to the forest area through which monkeys enter his banana plantation.

“It makes no sense for two- and three-year-old boys to take the crackers from the fence,” he said.

Intention to sue the victims' families

Uzair later expressed his disappointment at the conduct of the victims' grandfather, who allegedly twisted the story to the point of being slandered.

Uzair added that when the incident happened, he never ran away and was ready to tell the truth, but no one came to hear his side of the story.

“The police came to my house. For me, the police are the best. I was slandered. If it were up to me, I would sue. People say I ran away, but I didn't. You can ask the police; I fully cooperated with them. The incident happened on Sunday. Two days later, I asked the police if they would arrest me, but they said no,” he added.

He was later arrested when one of the victims died in hospital.

Complaints about Perhilitan

Uzair also addressed objections from some groups who had questioned his decision to kill wild animals with poison.

He clarified that despite submitting reports to the Department of Wildlife Protection & National Parks of Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan), he has not received any response since 2021.

Finally, he took the initiative and built cages to imprison the monkeys that were destroying his products.

“I can only earn a living from the produce of the garden. Some people say that you shouldn't kill animals like monkeys or apes because you will get karma for it later. What does that mean?” he asked in the post.

He added that in this case, these people should not kill the mosquitoes that bite them and enter their homes.

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