Sunday October 24, 2010
Mentally-ill woman sets fire to room after row
By HAMDAN RAJA ABDULAH
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TANGKAK: A mentally-ill woman set fire to a mattress in her room after a quarrel with her paralysed husband in Tanjung Agas here. The husband, Ismail Ibrahim, 64, was in the living room when he was awakened by the smell of burning rubber from the room. His shouts woke up several neighbours who rushed to help and pulled him to safety during the 4am incident yesterday.
The neighbours took Ismail to the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital in Muar where he was given outpatient treatment. He said his wife, in her 50s, who was suffering from mental illness, was taken to the hospital for psychiatric observation. “My wife had asked for some money yesterday afternoon but I did not have any to give to her.
“We are both under the care of the Welfare Department but the cash aid is late this month,” he told reporters at a relatives house in Taman Tun Syed Nasir here. Ismail said his wife kept on shouting, asking for money until late on Friday and he slept in their living room to allow her to cool down.
Ismail, who used to be a trishawman, became paralysed following an accident about two years ago. He said he married the woman, then a widow, not knowing about her mental illness, more than 12 years ago. “I was fortunate that my neighbours heard my screams for help,” he said.
