Grandparents-grandchildren bonding holiday ends in tragedy

KUALA LANGAT: Senior citizens Chia Tee Nang, 73, and Lim Mai Shak, 68, had just returned home from a holiday in Vietnam two days ago.

The couple, who were in the pig farming business, planned to spend some quality time with their three grandsons during the school holidays. Two of the boys, aged 10 and 12, stayed with them while the three-year-old had come to live with them from his parents’ home in Kuala Lumpur.

There was to be no quality time together. Instead, Tee Nang and Lim died with two of their grandchildren early yesterday morning, victims of brutal parang-wielding, masked robbers who slashed them before setting their house on fire.

The couple were believed to have been murdered together with Ryan Chia Zeng Xi, 10, and Chia Yuan Bin, three.

“We are shocked they were attacked and possibly murdered before their house was set on fire,” said a close relative who only wanted to be known as Chia.

She added her uncle and aunt were just ordinary villagers who led simple lives.

“They have been living here all their lives and the house, which is about 100 years old, was built by my uncle’s father,” said Chia.

According to Chia, the elderly couple had four children and one of them died many years ago.

The remaining three children, two boys and a girl, were all deaf-mute and the two sons were also married to deaf-mute women, said Chia.

The three grandsons were born to their two sons with the 12-year-old and Ryan being brothers and children of the eldest son.

“My uncle and aunt took care of their two grandsons who go to school from here,” she said.

The deceased couple’s nephew William Chia said he had rushed down from Singapore, where he worked and lived, after being informed of the tragedy.

“He (Tee Nang) is my father’s elder brother. I still cannot imagine why someone would want to do this,” said William.

William added he believed the attack and subsequent arson had taken a mere 15 minutes.

William said family members searching in the debris found pieces of jewellery. His aunt’s gold collection was returned to family members by firemen.

In a video which was uploaded by an unknown person, the 12-year-old grandson who escaped tearfully said he had run into the toilet and hid there when the assailant entered his grandparents’ home.

The video was filmed just metres away from the blazing house and at one point, a small explosion could be heard in the background.

“My grandfather, my grandmother, my younger brother and cousin all burnt,” the boy had said in the 58-second video while a man could be overheard urging: “Call the cops.”

Asked if he could identify the assailant, he said the man was wearing a mask and that his family was slashed. Police later found slash marks on the bodies.

MCA Religious Harmony Bureau deputy chairman Datuk Ng Chok Sin, who knew the family, was one of the earliest to arrive at the scene.