Teenage girl killed in jealousy-fuelled attack

IPOH, Feb 22 -- A teenage girl here died in an attack believed to have been fuelled by jealousy, police said today. 

Ipoh district police chief  ACP A. Asmadi Abd Aziz said the 18-year-old victim, Siti Sufiah Halim Ong was found dead at her residence in Persiaran Pengkalan Timur, Taman Desa Pakatan by her mother at 7.30am. 

“The mother told police that at 4.30pm on Friday, a man close to her daughter had brought her (daughter)  to her workplace before sending her back home at night.

“The mother said the man and her daughter, once home chatted for more than an hour. Her daughter showed no signs of abnormal behaviour. The next morning, the mother tried to wake her up at 7.30am but found her dead," he said in a statement here tonight.

A.Asmadi said investigations found that the victim had known the suspect for the past four years and had never argued with each other, adding that the suspect also dropped by the house frequently to help out the family as the victim’s father had died in 2012. 

He said the 24-year-old suspect, who is an OKU (person with learning disability) cardholder admitted to hitting the victim with a hammer after believing that she was in another relationship.

"The autopsy revealed the victim suffered a wound to the head and there were cuts and bruises on both sides of the head and around the left eye. She also suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage and the cause of death was blunt force trauma," he said.

Police also seized a hammer, a piece of wood and the suspect's clothes, he said. 

A.Asmadi said the suspect has no previous criminal record and the case was classified under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

Meanwhile, the victim's mother, Siti Sayati Kamil, 46, when met at Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital (HRPB) Forensic Department here said her daughter did not show any strange behaviour.

"She just said that she wanted to take care of me forever and wanted me to quit my job. 

Siti Sufiah, the elder of two siblings had just started work at a fruit stand in Pengkalan here for the past two months and had aspired to join the police force one day.

-- BERNAMA