[Nptxsews]

BUTTERWORTH: The brother of a man who was arrested for allegedly chaining his two young children in the bathroom of their home in Raja Uda on Wednesday, has expressed shock over the incident.

The man's older sibling, aged 45, said his brother was a loving and caring father who had never hurt the children, a 6-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy.

"He is a doting father, he loves his children dearly and had never even pinched them," he said at the Seberang Jaya Hospital where the children were warded for observation.

He said he believed that his brother, who works as a dispatcher, had chained the children to teach them a lesson as the two were hyperactive children.

But he acknowledged that his brother could have gone overboard.

He said his brother's wife, a Thai, did not abandon the family and that she was pregnant and was now staying in her hometown to attend to family matters.

He also said he would take care of his brother's children pending an investigation into the incident by the authorities.

Meanwhile, state Health, Environment and Caring Society Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh visited the children in hospital yesterday and said the siblings would be temporarily placed under the care of the state Welfare Department.

"We will apply for a court order to award temporary custody of the children to their uncle pending investigations."

Phee said the two children were in good health and did not show any signs of emotional trauma.

"They are doing very well, playing around and they had even asked about their father," he added.

It was reported that the children were chained in the bathroom by their father and were left to starve as he went to work about 3pm on Wednesday.

The children were rescued by the authorities about four hours later after neighbours heard their cries for help from the upper-floor of the double-storey shophouse in Taman Mawar.

Police have obtained a four-day remand order against the father beginning Thursday.

Father held over chaining and starving his children.