Man stabs his son to death
KENINGAU: A 39-year-old foreign worker here was arrested for stabbing his own son to death and seriously injuring his wife.
The tragic incident occurred on Thursday in a house at Km 75, Nabawan Road near the defunct Wangsa sawmill and Kampung Melampoi in the Nabawan district.
“Because the wife asked for money to buy kitchen expenses from her husband who was under the influence of drugs, their son became a victim of murder,” said District Police Chief Deputy Superintendent Douglas Nyeging Taong told a press conference at the district police headquarters here yesterday.
Douglas said the eight-yearold boy Rojas Jonvin died at the scene while the suspect’s wife, a 49-year-old housewife and also a foreigner, was stabbed in the right side of her abdomen in the 2.25am incident.
He said that on the day of the incident, a policeman from the Nabawan police station received a call alerting him to a struggle and, acting on that information, Corporal Firdaus and other members of the police station rushed to the scene.
Douglas said that as soon as the policemen arrived at the scene, the suspect appeared at the window of the house acting aggressively.
“Inspector Roning Mulut and members of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Keningau Police Headquarters, who arrived at the scene later, arrested the suspect about 5am that same day.
“The 39-year-old suspect is a foreigner who worked as a truck driver at a logging camp in Nabawan,” he said.
Douglas said initial investigations revealed that the suspect had been occupying the house in which the incident occurred with his wife and son for only two months.
The house was two kilometres from the main road (NabawanKeningau) and 12 kilometres away from the Nabawan police station, he added.
Douglas said the child was found lying face down with several wounds.
“Investigations at the scene were carried out by the forensic police of the Sabah Contingent Headquarters and two knives were found near the body, which are suspected to be the murder weapons.
“According to the suspect’s wife, the incident happened when the suspect became angry with her after she asked for money from the suspect to buy kitchen needs.
“The suspect then woke up his son and lifted him up facing his wife. The suspect then took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed the back of his son.
“Immediately after that there was a struggle between the suspect and his wife, which also caused the wife to be stabbed by the suspect. The wife then fled and called for help from a nearby house,” he said.
Douglas added that preliminary investigation revealed the woman is the suspect’s second wife and they were married six years ago but had no children with her. The boy was the child of the suspect with his first wife.
The victim’s body was first sent to the Keningau hospital, and then to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kota Kinabalu while the autopsy was conducted on Friday at 10 am, he said.
Douglas disclosed that the autopsy report showed there was an incision wound on the victim’s neck, going from the front to the left.
“This wound damaged the muscles and major blood vessels in the victim’s neck. There was also a stab wound on the left side of the victim’s chest which damaged the ribs, spleen and left kidney.
“These injuries caused bleeding around the left kidney, in addition to the stab wound in left side of the victim’s back which broke the spine from left to right and affected the right kidney and adrenal glands,” he said.
Douglas said the doctor who conducted the post-mortem confirmed the victim’s cause of death as a result of the incision in the neck and both stab wounds in the left chest.
Meanwhile, he said the suspect’s wife was also referred to the Keningau hospital emergency room and suffered wounds about two centimetres long believed caused by stabbing in the right abdomen.
“The suspect’s wife was treated at the Keningau hospital for two nights. Police investigation later found that she did not have valid travel documents and she was detained under Section 6 (1) (C) of the Immigration Act 1959/63,” Douglas said.
The suspect has been remanded for seven days and is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death sentence.