Maid dead of smoke inhalation after senior citizen with bipolar disorder started fire

Chia Gek Yong set his mattress ablaze after claiming to see bedbugs, and the fire spread, at Block 39 Telok Blangah Rise. - SINGAPORE CIVIL DEFENCE FORCE/FACEBOOK

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): An elderly man with a history of bipolar disorder set his mattress ablaze after claiming to see bedbugs, and the fire spread, causing a neighbour’s domestic helper to die of smoke inhalation.

On Wednesday, Chia Gek Yong, 73, whose mental condition was in relapse at the time of the incident, admitted that he had caused Koimatun Achmad Ali’s death by performing a rash act.