JOHOR BARU: A woman with stage-four cancer is believed to have strangled her 10-year-old daughter to death before hanging herself at their house in Skudai on Thursday night.
The bodies of J. Sumathi, 45 and K. Arthhinee were found by Sumathi’s husband, T. Krishakumar, at about 10pm when he returned to their Taman Skudai Indah home from work.
Their two older children, who had been at a shopping mall in Tampoi to buy school items, also returned at the same time.
Sumathi was found hanged in the gym room on the ground floor, while Arthhinee, whose neck was covered with strangulation marks, was found on the first floor.
According to a coroner at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital, where the two bodies were sent, Sumathi and Arthhinee had died about three hours earlier, at about 7pm.
Johor Bahru North District Police deputy chief Supt Beh Eng Lai said that one of the older children had tried to telephone Sumathi several times at about 7pm, but the calls went unanswered.
When Krishakumar and the children returned home, they found that the front door was locked and they had to use a spare key to open it.
Beh said an initial investigation found that Sumathi, who was suffering terminal cancer, often confessed to the family that she did not want to live anymore. – BERNAMA