MELAKA DOUBLE MURDER GRIPS S’PORE
Singaporean suspect allegedly beheaded wife, stepson and chopped up their bodies
THE gruesome murder of a woman and her son, whose severed heads were found in a house in Taman Merdeka Jaya, Batu Berendam here, has gripped not just Malaysia, but also Singapore.
The suspect, a 31-year-old Singaporean man, is believed to have stabbed his wife, 27, to death with a kitchen knife in the rented house following an argument.
Upon realising that his stepson had witnessed the act, the man allegedly killed the child as well.
The boy, 11, was the oldest of the woman’s four children from a previous marriage.
The man allegedly chopped up the bodies with a parang and discarded the parts at two locations.
The victims’ heads were reportedly stashed in the house’s attic.
Police sources said the body parts were discarded 7km from the house, a 14-minute drive by car.
Last Thursday, a grass cutter working near the main road in Kampung Ladang stumbled on eight human body parts strewn along his grass cutting route.
It is understood that the victims had been dead for four or five days before the body parts were discovered.
But police have yet to retrieve the victims’ hands.
A police source said the heads found in the attic were retrieved on Friday about 8pm.
“The victims’ next of kin have been summoned to Melaka Hospital’s Forensic Department for the identification process,” the source said.
Singapore police arrested the suspect on Friday and handed him over to their Malaysian counterparts following a request for assistance over the murder case.
The case garnered widespread attention across the Causeway.
Singapore’s Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Wanbao reported that a check on the suspect’s Facebook page showed that the couple got married in March last year.
The paper reported that it was the man’s third marriage.
The suspect’s occupation was listed as “rifleman” at the Singapore Armed Forces Military Police Command.
The suspect had posted a birthday wish on his wife’s Facebook profile around the time the killing took place last Sunday morning.
In his posting in Bahasa Melayu, he said: “My dear wife, as you get older, we must be thankful for what we have and hope for the best in the future.
“Happy birthday, my beloved wife. May you always be granted health, goodness, strength and success in all you do. Keep being a super mum for our children and may you always remain mine.
“My prayers are with you every step of the way.”
The post, accompanied by a picture of the couple, is still up and has garnered 15,000 comments.
Singapore’s The New Paper reported that the murders were sparked by a heated argument the couple had over family issues.
The report claimed that the suspect went into a rage when his wife threatened to divorce him.
It said the suspect sustained minor injuries to the finger and chest and later used a parang to decapitate the victims’ heads and chopped up their bodies.
The body parts were packed into bags and loaded into the boot of a car for disposal.
Singapore’s The Straits Times reported that the woman’s youngest child, 2, was in the car when the suspect discarded the body parts.
The suspect is under remand at the Bandar Hilir police station.