SIBU: A four-year-old girl was found locked in a rented upper floor room, at Hua Kiew Road with her dead mother could have been starving for three days at least.
THE DARK ROOM: This is where the girl spent three days with the body of her slained mother.
A youth kicked open the door at 1pm yesterday to find the girl lying beside the slightly bloated body of her mother on a bloodstained bed.
Police rushed over to find her staring blankly and looking weak.
Acting Sibu police chief Supt Zamani Hamden Ismail said they could not confirm whether the girl had witnessed the killing.
When Zamani talked to the girl yesterday, she kept quiet and stared back.
When police gave her water to sip, she vomited. They also gave her a piece of cake. The police have sent the girl to hospital for medical attention.
Zamani said they believed the girl’s mother Madeline Chadon, 36, was killed.
She could have been smashed on the head with a hard object.
There were injuries on the back of her head and right ear. Police found blood on her pillow and mattress.
The police have classified the brutal killing under Section 302 of the Penal Code which provides for a mandatory death sentence on conviction.
They have taken her body to hospital for a postmortem.
According to police, the youth who rescued the starving girl was a 20-something man who used to collect room rental for the owner in Kuching.
The youth told reporters yesterday that Madeline from Sg Bawan, Kanowit, moved into the room more than three months ago.
He said she frequently quarrelled with her husband, a security guard for a bank and he had moved out, leaving the mother and child to fend for themselves.
Neighbours said they felt something amiss when the floor where Madeline stayed was unusually quiet for the last few days, so they called in the youth to check.
The youth climbed to the top floor and when he kicked open the door, the girl lying beside her dead mother got up.
“She was calm but weak. We then called the police,” he said.
Neighbours are mystified why the girl had not called for help despite spending three days alone with her dead mother in the room.
They believed she could have been traumatised from watching her mother being killed. At 4.30pm yesterday, police arrested Madeline’s husband at his workplace.
They have not found the murder weapon.