Triple deaths: Wife silenced by fear, say police

Police say the woman had been traumatised because of constant abuse by her husband, who was a drug addict and heavy drinker.

KUALA LUMPUR: She was so afraid of her husband that when he told her that two of their four children were dead and he had disposed of their bodies, she said and did nothing.

Police believe that she had been traumatised because of constant abuse by her husband, Cheah Hing Soon, a 34-year-old drug addict and heavy drinker.

The man was found dead in their Nova apartment in Segambut last Sunday.

She only called police the following day.

Even then, she did not seem to realise that the bodies of their three-year-old daughter Cheah Kai Sze and son Cheah Kai Wen, aged seven months, were in the locked room and emitting a foul smell.

“When police arrived, they found the man on the bed of the master bedroom.

“They were immediately hit by the smell, but the woman did not appear to notice,” said Sentul Police Chief ACP R Munusamy.

“When police forced open the door, they found the bodies in two separate containers.

“The woman looked shocked and started to cry.”

The post-mortem has not been completed, but police now believe that the man drank poison after killing the children “five to seven days” ago, judging by the condition of the bodies.

The woman, who is a year older than her husband, told police there was no sound from the room.

It was always locked and the man held the key.

Munusamy said the man started being abusive about five years ago when both of them lost their jobs, he as an air-conditioner repairer and she as a clerk.

“He lost his temper easily and would hit all members of the family, except his second son. For some reason, he treated the boy decently,” he said.

“It is a sad and terrible thing to have happened to a family, especially since theirs was supposed to have been a love marriage.”

The couple eloped when both their families objected to their relationship.

She was 19 and he 18 when they married.

Munusamy said Cheah was arrested twice – for drug abuse in 2005 and for vandalism in 2006 – but was never charged.

Cheah became increasingly violent over the years, according to his wife.

When she was confined after giving birth to Kai Wen, she was mostly in her room while the baby was in the hall.

“Cheah would hit the baby every time he cried and she could not stop him,” Munusamy said.

The family was helped out financially by Cheah’s father, who owns a credit company, but there was no contact between them.

The father had been giving the family RM2,000-RM3,000 a month for the last five years, apart from paying the rent of RM1,000.

The father could not be reached, but Munusamy said he told police that he did not know about the violence and abuse.

“He told us that if he did, he would have tried to stop it,” Munusamy said.