JOHOR BARU: The cries of a child and loud quarrels were frequently heard from the house in Seri Alam here.
But no one thought that the fights would lead to the tragic death of a six-year-old boy, who has been found murdered.
Neighbour Kamarudin Abdullah, 47, said the boy’s parents could be heard fighting often.
“When they quarreled, the whole neighbourhood could hear,” he said, adding that the couple kept to themselves and rarely interacted with other residents.
He said the family had moved to the neighbourhood about a year ago, but had not been seen for nearly a month prior to the incident.
“During this period, the husband and wife would return occasionally, but always at different times. I was shocked to hear the boy had died,” he said yesterday.
Kamarudin added that he saw several people, believed to be relatives, at the family’s house on Monday night, but they left a few hours later.
That same evening, the child’s remains were found buried in Rompin, Negri Sembilan, some 200km away.
Negeri Sembilan police chief Datuk Ahmad Dzaffir Mohd Yussof told Bernama that a post-mortem at Rembau Hospital showed that the boy had been strangled with a cable tie.
Seri Alam OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Sohaimi Ishak said the victim’s mother had lodged a police report on July 22, alleging that her husband assaulted her and forcibly took their son.
Two days later, the 36-year-old father lodged another report, claiming he had lost the child.
He told police that he had left the boy in a car near a kopitiam in Bukit Indah here at around 6pm on July 23 to buy food. When he returned, the child was missing.
Police, unconvinced by his explanation, arrested the man to assist in investigations. A hoe, believed to have been used to dig the boy’s grave, has been recovered.
The suspect has been remanded for seven days until tomorrow.
