A Malaysian couple has been sentenced up to 13 years in jail for abusing three young children who were found with multiple injuries, including cigarette burns.
Mohd Shazwan, 26, a labourer, was sentenced to 13 years in jail while his unemployed wife, Norazira, 29, was jailed for 10 years.
The couple, who married 10 months ago, faced three charges of abuse.
The victims were Norazira's children from a previous marriage.
According to the statement of facts, the couple tied the seven-year-old victim to a chair before splashing him with hot water, burning his body with a cigarette and shoving a fishing rod into the victim's anus.
The five-year-old victim was hit in his private parts with a broom, burnt with a cigarette, and punched repeatedly on the face.
The youngest of the siblings, who is only two years and six months old, was burnt with a cigarette on his ears and knees.
Police uncovered the abuse when they rescued the eldest boy who was locked up all alone in the house last month.
The boy was found starving and had multiple injuries, including cigarette burns, hot water scaldings and bruises, Star paper said.
The couple was arrested the following day at a different house where police found the other two children, also with signs of abuse.
Police said Mohd Shazwan is a hardcore drug user and the both tested positive for methamphetamine.
