Mentally disturbed man kills housemate, injures two others By Rebecca Chong

KINABATANGAN: A 35-year-old mentally disturbed man attacked three housemates with a machete, killing one of them at Hap Seng Plantation workers quarters, River Estates, Bukit Mas (Litang Utara) here around 10.30pm on Monday.

The dead man was 47 years old and the injured victims were a 27year-old woman who was slashed at the back of her head and a 33year-old man who was injured on the forehead.

All the victims were plantation workers.

Kinabatangan district police chief Supt A Sahak Rahmat confirmed the case.

The suspect and victims were in their rooms when the incident happened.

Around 11.30m the second and third victims heard knocking on their doors.

When the woman opened the door, the suspect entered the room and started attacking her with a machete.

The third victim tried to save the second victim who struggled and managed to escape to ask for help from neighbours.

The suspect then pushed the third victim’s head to the wall, but he managed to escape from the room, and locked the suspect inside.

He then saw the first victim lying in the living room, covered in blood.

It was believed that the suspect had allegedly murdered the victim before he attacked the other two.

A neighbour and a security guard then came to the house, and tried to calm the suspect from outside the room he was locked in. They managed to detain the suspect.

All the victims were brought to the Sg Segama Clinic of Bukit Mas estate for medical treatment, but the first victim was pronounced dead. He was believed to have died at the scene.

“The medical team will perform post-mortem on the victim to identify the cause of death. The suspect and the three victims lived in the same house with the other estate workers, and had no family relations.

“At 12.35am (April 30), the police had received a call from a civilian on a murder case at the scene. A team of police then went to the location and found blood on the front door and the living room.

“Upon inspection in the house, we found two machetes and two lumps of hair,” Sahak said.

The suspect was arrested with the help of neighbours and the security guard.

Sahak also said that the suspect was believed to be mentally unstable.

The case is still being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, which is punishable with death sentence upon conviction.