POLICE CLASSIFY DEATH OF BURN VICTIM AS MURDER
51-year-old believed to have been doused with petrol by man after argument
POLICE have classified the death of a woman in a fire at a motorcycle workshop in Sentul on Tuesday as murder. City police chief Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said initial investigations showed that the 51-year-old victim and one of three others injured in the blaze had an argument over a debt prior to the 8.30pm incident.
“One of them has been detained by police. The 33-year-old is believed to have started the fire.
“We believe an argument broke out between the victim and the man at the premises,” he said yesterday.
Mazlan said the suspect, a motorcycle accessory supplier, was being treated at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), where he is being kept under police watch.
The two others injured, aged 29 and 46, are also warded at HKL.
“Investigations showed the suspect had poured petrol on the victim and set her alight.
“Therefore, we have classified the case as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
“Investigations are being carried out under Section 435 of the same code for mischief by fire or explosive substance.”
Sources said the suspect had spilled some of the petrol on himself when he doused the victim, causing him to suffer burns as well when he set her alight.
He is said to have suffered 30 per cent burns on the body.