NO ESCAPE: The suspect being led away to the lockup after he was handed over to the police.
KUCHING: A teacher had his sixth sense to thank for after ‘something inside’ him led him to rush back to his house in Padawan and ultimately apprehended a thief.
Relating the incident when met on Tuesday night, the 53-year-old said he was at Mile 4 1/2 together with his wife and son, as well as several other colleagues, to plan a farewell party for a soon-to-retire teacher at his school.
“Around 3.30pm, I suddenly felt uneasy inside and told my wife, who teaches at the same school, that we needed to rush home.
“I can’t explain what it was but something inside here kept nagging me to go back,” he said while patting his chest.
The couple then left with their son and arrived at their house at Mile 10 to discover initially that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
However, as the husband opened the front gate to drive his car in, two men suddenly dashed out and ran off in different directions.
Immediately shouting to his neighbours for help, he then got back into his car and chased after one of the thieves — a heavy set man — and managed to block off his escape route not far away.
The suspect’s accomplice, however, managed to escape into a secondary jungle.
Several neighbours, who helped to apprehend the suspect, were able to recover a bag from the scene, which contained a gold bracelet and necklace belonging to the family.
The teacher, meanwhile, said it was fortunate that there was a wide monsoon drain in front of his house as the thief was unable to jump across it to escape to the jungle.
“I used to think it was silly to have such a big drain near my house, although I’m now thankful because it played a part in preventing the thief from escaping,” he said.
The suspect, a 36-year-old from Mile 9 1/2 Penrissen Road, was handed over to the police and subsequently detained for further investigation.