Police carrying the victim’s body out from her home at Kepayan Ridge yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: A retired secondary school teacher was murdered in her home at Kepayan Ridge here yesterday after a game of riddles with her neighbour.
Ngui Lim Kiau, 64, who taught at SJKC Shantao, Austral Park was found with a stab wound on her back in the living room around 3pm yesterday.
It is believed the victim was stabbed with a knife by her neighbor, believed to be mentally ill due to a misunderstanding when playing the riddles.
City police chief ACP M. Chandra said police had detained the suspect, a 65-year-old woman, at the scene.
“Police have also recovered the weapon, an eight-inch knife, which we believe is the murder weapon,” he said when met at the scene yesterday.
Initial police investigation believed Ngui had invited the suspect to her house to play a game of riddles with her around 2pm.
“Both the victim and suspect have been friends and neighbours for more than five years and they used to hang around together.
“Police believe prior to the incident, both women were having a conversation when the suspect felt slighted by the victim for allegedly making fun of her as their game progressed,” ACP Chandra said.
“This prompted the suspect to pull out a knife from her pocket and stab the victim on her back, about six inches below the head,” he said.
When asked why the suspect was carrying the knife in the first place, Chandra said she had intended to cut some banana leaves behind her house when she was invited by the victim to her house.
Realizing that she had stabbed her friend, the suspect then tried to revive the victim and called her brother for help.
The victim was however pronounced dead by police who arrived at the scene around 4.20pm.
Meanwhile, Chandra said the suspect was so distraught about the incident that she had inflicted a couple of wounds on herself.
“She (suspect) tried to cut her wrist and her neck after realizing what she had done but was stopped by neighbours,” he said.
Chandra also said that the suspect had been seeking medical treatment with psychiatrics for the past 24 years and was recently released from Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang early this month.
“Police have detained the suspect and we will refer her to Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang for further action,” he said, adding that the case would be investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.