A drug user recently lost control and set fire to his parents’ house at Pokok Sena, Kepala Batas, Penang when his brother refused to buy him cigarettes.
Kosmo reported that the incident happened on Wednesday, August 23, at about 9.30pm. He was angry at his brother and decided to set the two-story house, which had five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen on fire.
The 47-year-old suspect was a former prisoner who was freed from prison in June for drug-related offences, according to Assistant Commissioner Mohd Asri Shafie, chief of the Seberang Prai Utara district police.
He claimed that thirty minutes before the fire, he had grown quite upset with his brother for refusing to buy him cigarettes.
The brother went to the Kepala Batas police station to lodge a report after finding the suspect’s wrath intolerable. On the way there, he received a call from a neighbour informing him that the suspect had set the house on fire but had now been caught.
“The suspect’s mother was at Balik Pulau visiting her daughter at the time of the incident,“ he said.
Four motorcycles, the whole family’s possessions, and 95 per cent of the house were destroyed by the fire.
According to Mohd Asri, the suspect eventually confessed to the crime, admitting that he had used a lighter to set his bedroom curtains on fire, which caused the entire house to burn down. In addition, he also stated that he had tested positive for meth.