Jailed for torching stepson and hubby

Woman gets 33 years for setting trio on fire

My client has been traumatised and has sought psychiatric treatment three times after the incident.

SHAH ALAM: She splashed petrol on her husband and two stepsons while they were sleeping in the bedroom. She then lit a match and threw it on the bed, killing two of them.

Yesterday, housewife M. Saraswathy admitted to causing the deaths of her husband P. Punniamoorthi, 34, and stepson P. Siva, 14.

She also pleaded guilty in the High Court to causing grievous hurt to another stepson, P. Tanesh, then 16, by splashing petrol on him and setting him on fire.

According to the statement of facts, Saraswathy, 39, had gone to their bedroom between 2.30am and 3am on Dec 20, 2010 while they were asleep at a house in Taman Bukit Subang, Shah Alam.

She splashed petrol on three of them and set them alight.

Investigations by the Fire Department confirmed it was an act of mischief.

The post-mortem revealed that the cause of their deaths was “inhalation of the fire gases and burns”.

Tanesh was warded in hospital for about a month. He suffered serious injuries to his face, hand and leg due to the fire.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Wan Zuraida Wan Nawan asked the court to impose a deterrent sentence, saying that Saraswathy had committed a cruel act on her husband and stepsons.

Pleading for leniency, lawyer A.G. Kalidas said: “My client has been traumatised and has sought psychiatric treatment three times after the incident.”

High Court judge Justice Mohd Yazid Mustafa sentenced Saraswathy to 13 years’ jail each for killing her husband and stepson.

He also sentenced her to seven years’ jail for causing grievous hurt to Tanesh.

However, Justice Mohd Yazid ordered the sentences to run concurrently from Saraswathy’s date of arrest on April 4, 2011.

A.G. Kalidas