Sweden jails M'sians for hitting kids

A Malaysian couple were yesterday jailed by a Stockholm court for assaulting their four children while on a work assignment to Sweden.

There, corporal punishment is illegal.

Azizul Awalludin, 38, and his wife Shalwati Norshal, 46, were sentenced to 10 months and 14 months in jail respectively for beating their children aged seven to 14.

The abuse happened over a three-year period, with the couple using a bamboo stick, a clothes hanger and their hands.

Azizul's defence lawyer told AFP that his client was disappointed because he denied the charges.

The court rejected the defence's claim that the oldest child had made up the abuse.

"That the children could conspire and agree together to put forward a false picture of domestic violence appears to be highly unlikely," the court said in its ruling.

The couple have been held on remand in Stockholm since last Decembers when staff at the children's school reported suspicions of abuse.