Malaysian Man Kills Wife, 2 Children And Self Over Love Scam

A 48-year-old Malaysian man is believed to have killed his wife and their two young children before taking his life at a Kuala Lumpur flat, in a case police said might have been linked to losses from an alleged online love scam purportedly involving the woman.

Initial police investigations found a note left by the man, blaming his actions on the scam, which had left the family with US$61,000 in losses and debt, police said on Friday.

The 48-year-old father wrote that he was distraught over his wife’s purported relationship with a scammer and claimed she had continued trying to contact the scammer despite the family’s financial losses, said Kuala Lumpur police chief Fadil Haji Marsus.

In the note, police said the man felt her actions had gone too far and that he was ashamed in front of their children.

“The note was found on the dining table after the man fell to his death from their Desa ParkCity flat building on Thursday,” Fadhil said.

His “wife is a housewife while the murder suspect works as a director in a family-run business”.

A man fell to his death from a flat in the Desa ParkCity area in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday in a case classified as murder-suicide, Malaysian police say. Photo: Ushar Daniele

Police received a report on Thursday afternoon that a man had fallen from the unit, which led police to forcibly enter the family’s flat with help from fire rescue personnel.

Police found the 47-year-old wife, her nine-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son dead in separate rooms.

“All three victims were found with severe injuries to their necks,” Fadil said.

At the scene, police recovered a knife and glove believed to be used in the killings in the master bedroom drawers at the flat located in an upscale neighbourhood.

Police have not confirmed the precise location where the incident took place. This Week in Asia spoke to several security guards who said the man fell from the 33rd floor of the NorthShore Gardens building near Central Park, a public park, in the upscale Desa ParkCity area.

“We heard about the man falling from the building around 3.30pm on Thursday,” said the security guard, who declined to be named.

A view of the Desa ParkCity area in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Ushar Daniele

Fadhil said a postmortem examination was conducted on Friday on the girl, with findings showing a 5cm wound on her neck. Two more postmortem examinations on the wife and son are expected to be concluded later in the day.

“The postmortem examination of the suspect is expected to be conducted tomorrow [Saturday] after the Kuala Lumpur Hospital forensic team visits the scene tomorrow morning,” he said.

The case is classified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Earlier this year, Malaysian police reported several other cases of murder and murder suicides said to have involved family members.

On January 16, a 34-year-old doctor was charged with killing his 37-year-old wife and his four-year-old son in their home in Johor earlier in the month, where the wife was found with slash wounds on her neck while the child had bluish marks on his face believed to be caused by smothering, according to the state’s police.

In early February, a couple aged 54 and 52 were found dead in a bedroom with multiple stab wounds, with the case classified as a murder suicide and police citing a domestic dispute as the motive.

On February 17, a 32-year-old security guard allegedly slashed and killed his 55-year-old mother, 28-year-old wife and two daughters aged three and four before taking his own life in Taman Cherating Damai in Kuantan, Pahang. Police believe the motive for the killing was financial pressure.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri said on February 17 that the government had noted a worrying trend of familicide cases, with six recorded so far in the year, pledging to strengthen the role of local social support services to help those experiencing emotional distress.

“It has become urgent for us to expand counseling services through the local social support centre,” Nancy was quoted by the New Straits Times newspaper on the same day.