KOTA KINABALU, March 26 — A 26-year-old man has been arrested after he slapped his 46-year-old wife and threatened her with an axe when she refused to buy him a new car in Sabah’s east coast district of Lahad Datu.
Lahad Datu district police chief assistant commissioner Nasri Mansor told reporters that the Indonesian suspect had confronted his wife at their house in Kg Sapagaya Hilir at about 6pm last Thursday when she returned home from picking up their children from school.
“The wife, a kindergarten teacher, told him that she could not afford to buy him a car and he got angry and slapped her before threatening to harm her with an axe and burning down their home,” he said.
Out of fear, the woman took her three children and ran away to her brother’s home the next day. On Monday, she lodged a police report over the incident.
“Acting on the report, police picked up the suspect at another house in the same area in Kampung Sapagaya Hilir at 3.50pm on the same day. They also seized an axe allegedly used by the suspect to threaten his wife during the quarrel,” he said.
A drug test on the suspect later came up positive.
Police investigations showed that the suspect, who works illegally at a chicken farm, and the victim got married in February last year and have one child together. The victim was married twice before and has two children from her first marriage.
Police are investigating the case under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt. If found guilty, he could be jailed for a maximum of one year, or be fined up to RM2,000.
