DHAKA: A Malaysian high court on Friday jailed three family members who suffocated their two-year-old to death by piling on top of her in a suspected exorcism ritual.

Chua Wan Zuen, aged two, died after being pinned down under a blanket in August last year with eight people, including her parents, crushing her for several hours in an attempt to drive away evil spirits.

A high court in northern Penang state ordered the parents an engineer and a traditional herbalist and an uncle to be jailed for one year, quashing an earlier fine of RM10,000 (S$3,900) each, meted out by a lower court in August, their lawyer Ang Chun Pun said.

It also overturned the conviction of the girl`s aunt, ordering her to be admitted to a mental health hospital, as she was diagnosed to have been suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the girl`s death.

Mr Ang said the aunt, 41, persuaded the rest of the ethnic Chinese family to try the "prayer session".

Source: ST
BDST: 1450 HRS, NOV 29, 2013