Son Arrested After Dead Bodies Of His Parents And Sister Found Floating In Perlis River
Their bodies were found floating in the Kampung Belat Batu river.
By Sadho Ram — 19 Oct 2018, 06:56 PM
A 37-year-old man, whose parents and sister allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison and jumping into a river in Perlis, was arrested from a restaurant in Taman Ria Jaya, Sungai Petani, Kedah
The family of four had allegedly made a "suicide pact" to drink poison and jump into Sungai Arau. However, the son reportedly "chickened" out, NST Online reported.
The four of them had boarded a train to Arau from Sungai Petani on Tuesday. While his elderly parents and younger sister drank the poison and jumped into the river, the son changed his mind after seeing his parents and sister jumping into the river.
The son was picked up by police at 10pm last night
Initially, it was reported that the son had also jumped along with his family, and while he managed to climb out of the river, the rest of his family were swept away by the current.
The victims were identified as Norzalina Baharom, 35, and her parents, Norma Pin, 64, and Baharom Ahmad, 66, whose bodies were found in Sungai Arau on Thursday.
First, it was the man's sister Norzalina's body that was found floating in the river by a local resident at about 8.35am who then lodged a police report.
Norma's body was found at 10.18am near Kampung Belat Raja, about 2km from where Norzalina's body was found, while that of Baharom was found in the same river near Kampung Che Ok, at about 12.10pm about 10km from where Norma's body was found.
The alleged suicide by the family was said to be due to debt and the high cost of living which the family reportedly could not cope with
According to Perlis police chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Noor Mushar Mohd, the 37-year-old son is currently under police remand until Monday to assist investigations.
"Out of fear, he made a decision to return to Sungai Petani via train on Wednesday morning," SAC Noor was quoted as saying by New Straits Times earlier today.
He is being investigated under Section 309 of the Penal Code for attempted suicide and Section 35(e) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957 for failure to provide information concerning a death, reported Malay Mail.
