AWAITING POST-MORTEM: Police and hospital personnel lifting Mantan’s body onto the stretcher upon arrival at Miri Hospistaly.
MIRI: The body of a dead man was found lying in a pool of blood in the workers quarters of an oil palm plantation somewhere in Permyjaya in the wee hours yesterday.
The man is believed to have been killed by his wife’s cousin, who fled from the quarters after slashing him on the neck with a sharp object.
Identified as Mantan Seraka, 25, a Bugis from Makasar, the deceased was found by his wife Senab Sain, 26.
A police team rushed to the scene, which is about 42 km from the city centre, at about 2am.
The body has been sent to Miri Hospital for a post mortem.
According to Senab, the suspect, who is working at another oil palm plantation, had stayed overnight with her and Mantan and their three-year-old daughter during the weekend.
However, at about 12am, the suspect who was sleeping in another room of the quarters, suddenly woke up and asked for drinking water from Mantan.
“He said he was thirsty and asked for drinking water from my husband,” said Senab when met by The Borneo Post yesterday.
“I heard commotions in the room, where the suspect had slept and saw my husband’s body motionless on the floor,” said the sobbing Senab.
She said she injured her hands when trying to prevent the suspect from stabbing her husband with her bare hands.
Meanwhile, Miri Police chief ACP Mun Kock Keong, when contacted yesterday morning, confirmed the case as murder which would be investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
Mantan’s three-year-old daughter was not harmed.
Police are looking for the suspect.