Cops enlist help of sign language translator
> Expert’s help needed to communicate with suspect
PETALING JAYA: Despite challenges in communications with a deaf-mute suspect in the Tanjung Sepat arson-cum-murder case, police investigators are progressing well with the probe with the help of a sign language translator.
Selangor police earned a feather in its cap when it solved the case within 48 hours of the murders of Chia Tee Nang, 73, his wife, Lim Mai Shak, 68, and their grandsons Chia Yuan Bin, three, and Ryan Chia Zeng Xi, nine.
It was probably the first time police had handled a prominent case of mass murder involving a deaf-mute suspect who was traced and nabbed in Kepong early on Friday by Selangor police.
Asked yesterday on how police had managed to solve the case quickly, Selangor police CID chief SAC Fadzil Ahmat said apart from an intensified investigation, public information and tip-offs helped in nabbing the 38-year-old factory worker.
He said police have engaged the assistance of a sign language translator to communicate with the suspect.
It is believed that as a result of the man’s speech and hearing disability, it might take more time for investigators to conclude the probe and expect to seek an extension on the week-long remand order on the suspect when it expires on Thursday. theSun also learnt that Chia and his wife, Lim, had three children, all also deaf and mute.
Their only daughter who is their youngest child was the suspect’s girlfriend.
Police learnt that the suspect owed money he had borrowed from the elderly couple and was embroiled in an argument with them on Wednesday over repayments.
In a fit of anger during the altercation, he allegedly assaulted them with an object and slashed them with a knife before setting fire to the house in Jalan Tepi Laut at about 5am last Wednesday that killed the couple and the two children. A third grandson of the couple, who managed to hide from the suspect and escaped the fire, related what he had witnessed to the police after the incident.
The boy, who is under the care of the Welfare Department and is the prime witness in the case, is expected to be summoned by police this week to identify the detained suspect.