Married couple detained over purported family suicide video

 

Police have arrested a married couple in connection with a video of a family drinking poison, which has gone viral on social media

Seremban district police chief ACP Mohd Said Ibrahim said the couple, both 29, were arrested following a report lodged on the purportedly live family suicide video.

The report was lodged following concern that it could be emulated by others and a bad influence on society, as well as contains an element of child abuse, he said in a statement today.

He said the man was arrested at 10.20pm yesterday, while the wife was arrested at 3.15am today.

The video recording, which is for 16 minutes and three seconds, showed a man expressing his dissatisfaction with government leaders in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and how the situation is causing the people to suffer stress and depression.

In showing how “depression and stress speak”, the man did a “role play” on a family suicide by giving “poison” to his nine-month-old son and then to his wife before drinking it himself.

Said said the police are investigating the case under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code, Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act and Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001.

Meanwhile, Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation director Abd Jalil Hassan confirmed his department had received the report on the video that was uploaded on the Facebook account of a “Reuben George” and the police were investigating the case.

“The video shows three members of a family drinking (purportedly) poison due to depression and the man also disputed efforts by the government in handling the Covid-19 pandemic and urged the government to take drastic action to address the issue which is causing stress and depression among the people, thus contributing to suicide cases in Malaysia.

“In the video, the suspect admitted that he was just doing a ‘role play’ and the liquid was not poison,” he said in a statement today.

He said the police would complete the investigation paper as soon as possible and then refer it to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further action.

He advised the public to use social media wisely and responsibly by not using the platform to cause panic and threaten harmony in the country.

- Bernama