Police have arrested a local man for attacking his mother with a cleaver during a heated quarrel, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference yesterday.
According to Chan, the 40-year-old suspect is surnamed Lam. He told the police that he is unemployed. The 72-year-old victim is his mother. Her personal information was not released. They live in the same residential flat with the victim’s daughter and the victim’s grandchild. The grandchild is eight years old, Chan added.
The incident happened in a flat in Block 8 of Ip Heng Building in Seac Pai Van on Monday afternoon. The victim and the suspect were in the living room when Lam asked his mother to go out and buy some frozen meat. The victim said that she was going to buy it later. However, Lam insisted that his mother buy the meat at once which led to the quarrel.
Overcome with anger, Lam ran to the kitchen and grabbed a cleaver. He attacked his mother who sustained multiple wounds. She took her granddaughter with her and both ran to a nearby public Health Centre for help.
The Health Centre staff rang the 999 emergency hotline to report the case to the police. The victim was later taken to the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre for a medical examination and treatment.
Public Security Police (PSP) officers arrived at the flat and took the suspect to a police station for questioning, according to Chan. The case was transferred to the Judiciary Police for further investigation.
According to Chan, the medical examination showed that the victim sustained four injuries – on her left wrist, left shoulder, back and left side of her abdomen. Each injury was about 10 centimetres long, Chan added. The condition of the victim was stable at the time of the press conference yesterday afternoon, according to Chan.
A police investigation showed that Lam’s mother was the victim of domestic violence for over 10 years. Lam told the police that he was getting increasingly jealous of his elder brother and felt that his mother loved his elder brother more than him, making him become more violent over the past three years, Chan said. However, his mother kept silent and did not report the violent attacks on her to the police.
Chan said the suspect’s behaviour was “bad tempered and brutal”. During the investigation, he told the police that he was being taken care of and financially supported by his mother. The police were told that the victim used some of her government subsidies to support her son financially.
The suspect refused to confess to the crime and told the police that he was sleeping when the incident happened. However, Chan said evidence showed that the suspect committed the crime.
The suspect was arrested and transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further investigation, facing charges of domestic violence and use of an illegal weapon.
PJ officers escort the hooded domestic violence suspect outside PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
This photo taken yesterday shows the cleaver allegedly used by the domestic violence crime suspect to attack his 72-year-old mother.
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