Double death tragedy

[metalslug]

http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,204461,00.html?

DOUBLE DEATH TRAGEDY
1 LOCKED IN HORROR

He gets home late and drunk
Angered by mum's questions, he locks family in flat...
By Tay Shi'an

June 09, 2009

Raja flies into rage over mum's questions and grabs house key as father watches. Raja padlocks front gate of flat, leaving family inside. Freed from flat, Mr Suppiah looks down to see son's body and wants to follow after him. Relatives hold him back. All go to ground floor to view Raja's body. Mr Suppiah disappears. Then friends and relatives spot him on 10th storey. TNP ILLUSTRATION: KELVIN CHAN

IN LESS than 90 minutes on Saturday night, one family suffered the full range of anguish - from rage to horror, despair and shock.

In the end, the family was left to grieve for two lives - a son and his father - at Telok Blangah Way.

It began in rage when Mr Selvaraja Suppiah, 26, a security officer, became angered by his mother's questions.

'Why are you drinking so much?' she had asked, relatives told The New Paper. 'Where have you been? Why are you coming back late?'

The young man was tipsy from having attended a party. And although it was almost midnight, he wanted to head out again with his cousin, who was at their ninth-storey flat in Block 33.

He had just called his uncle - who lives with the cousin - to ask for permission for them to stay out late.

But Raja, as his family called him, lost his temper and started quarrelling with them.

Voices were raised, but no one expected the turn the night was about to take.

Incensed, Raja grabbed the house key, which was hanging by the door, and rushed out.

He padlocked the front gate outside the door, locking his parents, younger sister and cousin inside.

As his stunned family watched from inside the flat, Raja, the eldest of three children, climbed onto one of the many flowerpots the family kept along the corridor outside their three-room flat.

When they realised what he was about to do, his father, property agent Suppiah Nadeson, 55, and his mother, housewife Malliga Veerapan, in her 40s, both shouted: 'No! Stop! Stop!'

But it was too late.

They watched helplessly, locked in horror, as he leapt from the parapet, into the darkness below...

 

[metalslug]

http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,204466,00.html?

DOUBLE DEATH TRAGEDY
2 LOCKED IN DESPAIR

They shove, but gate won't budge
June 09, 2009




THEY couldn't believe their eyes.

They wanted to rush down to his body at the foot of the block but couldn't. They were trapped inside by the padlocked metal gate.

They shook, pulled and pushed the gate, but it would not open.


Padlocked

Mr Suppiah and his wife frantically called their relatives and friends to tell them what had happened.

Mr Suppiah's brother, Mr Muthiah Nadaison, 47, the uncle whom Raja had called less than an hour ago, was stunned.

He said: 'My nephew called and said Raja had jumped down. I thought it was a joke.'

He rushed to the scene.

That was when he saw the body and the ambulance.

He tried to go upstairs to talk to his brother, but the area was cordoned off.

Around 12.50am he saw civil defence officers rush upstairs. About 15 minutes later, they managed to cut open the padlock and free Raja's family from the unit.

Mr Suppiah rushed out, looked over the parapet and saw his son's body.

He wanted to jump immediately but was held back by relatives who had, by then, gone to the flat.

Unable to hold back their tears after being trapped upstairs for so long, the family went down to see Raja's body.

It was pandemonium.

Said Mr Muthiah: 'Everyone was shouting, screaming.'

The parents wanted to hold their son's still-warm body but they couldn't get to him as his body was cordoned off too.

They were distraught and delirious with despair.

Mr Suppiah kept repeating his son's name: 'Raja, Raja.' He couldn't bear to see his favourite son lying there.

Then, quietly, he slipped away.

Within moments, his family noticed he had disappeared and started searching frantically for him...

 

[metalslug]

http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,204462,00.html?

DOUBLE DEATH TRAGEDY
3 LOCKED IN SHOCK

Father vanishes into the night...
June 09, 2009




WHILE the focus of attention and sorrow was the body on the ground, one friend looked up.

What he saw chilled him to the bone. It was Mr Suppiah, on the 10th storey of his block, looking over the edge.

The friend shouted: 'No! Don't jump!'


On hearing him. the other 30 to 40 friends and relatives all looked up.

Their frantic screams echoed into the night.

Mr Muthiah, who was sitting a short distance away, heard the screams and rushed to see what was happening.

Some friends made a dash up the stairwell, trying to race towards Mr Suppiah.

But, for the second time that night, the pleas and effort were in vain.

In vain

Mr Suppiah landed on the ground, just 10m from where his oldest and favourite son lay.

It was 1.11am - less than 11/2 hours after Raja's death.

The family, already reeling from one death, now had to cope with the shock of another.

Said Mr Muthiah: 'The son jumped, the father also followed the son. He loved the son so much.'

The tearful grieving continued at the mortuary yesterday morning, as the surviving family members claimed the two bodies.

At the family's home, relatives formed a wall round Raja's mother and sister, saying the latter two were too distressed to talk.

They said Raja's sister, who receives regular treatment at the Institute of Mental Health, had to be given an injection to calm her down.

The family is still trying to understand how things escalated to this point.

Said a friend, who declined to give her name: 'Everyone's thinking it's a nightmare. We are still very confused.'

The close-knit family said Raja had not seemed upset or troubled recently.

They said that even though Raja was angered by what his mother said on Saturday night, the two were actually very close.

Said the family friend: 'His mother actually fed him three mouthfuls of rice yesterday (with her hands), like he was an infant.'

She said it's a family tradition and a symbol of love, which the mother always did for her two sons and one daughter.

Everyone was also upset because Mr Suppiah was the pillar of support for his family.

Not just for his wife and children, for whom he was the main breadwinner, but also for the five siblings, who relied on him for guidance and, sometimes, financial help.

Homes repossessed

Mr Muthiah said both his and a sister's home had been repossessed recently because they could not meet the mortgage repayments.

Mr Muthiah had lost his job as a bus driver about three years ago and could not pay the instalments for his five-room flat.

His flat was repossessed last month. He is now self-employed and lives with relatives.

He said: '(Suppiah) was the one who went with me to see the MP, took me to the Prime Minister's office at the Istana, wrote a letter to pass to the police officer there, and faxed and e-mailed letters to help me.

'Any time you called him, day and night, he would never say 'cannot'.'

Now, a third sibling's Bukit Purmei flat risks being repossessed.

Said family friend Kuldip Singh, 46, a civil servant: 'They don't know what to do. They need assistance. (Suppiah) was always the one helping them with these things.

'He was well-educated, well-spoken, knew how to get things done. They relied on him. He was a real gem of a person.

'If only the right authorities can come and help (the family), then there will be some consolation in the darkness for them.'

Father and son will be cremated today at 4pm at Mandai Crematorium.

 

[metalslug]

http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,204468,00.html?

DOUBLE DEATH TRAGEDY
SCDF turns up 3 times in 90 minutes
June 09, 2009




The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received calls to go to Block 33, Telok Blangah Way, not once but three times within 90 minutes.

At 11.49pm, they received the first call, saying a 26-year-old man had fallen from an HDB block.

Paramedics and an ambulance arrived at the scene at midnight.


The man was pronounced dead and the paramedics left at 12.52am.

At 12.44am, SCDF had received a call from the police requesting assistance to enter a locked unit.

Fire rescue officers arrived in a red rhino within 5 minutes.

Using bolt-cutters, they broke open the padlocked metal gate.

The fire rescue workers left at 1.07am.

Then, at 1.11am, they received a third call - a 55-year-old man had fallen from the same block.

Paramedics and an ambulance arrived and the man was pronounced dead.

Police are investigating the unnatural deaths.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


HELPLINES

Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-2214444

Family Service Centre: 1800-8380100

Care Corner Mandarin Counselling Centre: 1800-3535800

Tinkle Friend: 1800-2744788

Touchline (Touch Youth Service): 1800-3772252

 

[class5]

My deepest condolences to the family....

 

[KuanTi01]

It's a terrible terrible family tragedy! My heart goeas out to the bereaved ones. The dead is already dead but the living has to bear with the pain and loss. Deepest condolences!

 

[Leongsam]

Crazy Indians!

 

[SamuelStalin]

http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,204461,00.html?
'Why are you drinking so much?' she had asked, relatives told The New Paper. 'Where have you been? Why are you coming back late?'

Yes, the mother loves her child and asked this out of concern, her words are not meant to be taken literally. However, we have to know that men are wired differently from women, as men are more direct and tend to take words more literally. Any woman who runs these lines, whatever their hidden reasons are, are an annoying nag. I once worked with a lady who talked in the same way (but her reason was her insecurity) and I told her off straight.

Probably also the mother could have talked to him like this for so many times, and he got fed up and lost it. His drunken status depicts he only half-knows what he is really doing.

This is why some religious faiths prohibit alcohol also, even though there are times you have to entertain people and you may have no choice of totally avoiding it. You lose control, you say horrible things, get into fights and all that, and the taste of alcohol itself - is it really that nice and delicious?

And God is to blame since He calls himself the Creator. Why did he make man and woman so different, even in some aspects, being opposite? Many problems in this world arise because of this truth of his creation alone. God the Creator, is the trouble too.

 

[LeeLaoPeh]

A fathers loves is stronger than life
only when you have a son grows up , then you all can understands

 

[Conan the Barbarian]

Its very sad indeed. Lost his job as bus-driver, why?
WHY? It cannot be that he shun the bus driver job.
Or perhaps there are people willing to work longer hours
for less.

Who repossesed the flat? Who, Who??

 

[SamuelStalin]

A fathers loves is stronger than life
only when you have a son grows up , then you all can understands

This is true. People say mothers love their children more, but fathers also do not love them by a just little either.

Many people even some established mat sallehs other than Asians openly expressed credit and love to their fathers whom they felt closer to, being the likely recipients of their possible greater understanding, leniency and all that. They are not rude, but, why don't they even talk about their mothers?

 

[SamuelStalin]

A fathers loves is stronger than life
only when you have a son grows up , then you all can understands

No need. Anyone who can really think will understand it already.

 

[SIFU]

No need. Anyone who can really think will understand it already.

if this is a chinese family, u probably think they deserve to die huh

 

[Watchman]

High on drugs ! Chai Chee alot !

 

[saratogas]

Ah Nehs have history of drinking and abuse problems - They seems to fly down HDB flats alot lately.

http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?t=29190

 

[poobor]

u win... tragic news of the day...

 

[hairylee]

If women could use their mouth strictly for BLOW JOBS this world will be a much better place for men.

 

[Nice-Gook]

<style></style>Rumors are that this sad case was essentially a money problem.In short NS for sinkies and jobs for foreigners.Why are young sinkies working as security man?Because they cannot be hired.Foreigners take the top and low paying jobs.Talked to a young sinkie who claimed working for Cisco and quit his job.But on scrutiny was told his pay was around $400 plus and the rest calculated to gross around $900 or so.The take home actually amount to only $600 or so.Paying for food and transport alone leaves nothing to take home.This is essentially a security-man job glorified as Cisco job.


An old uncle in his 70s was fetching $1200 some years back as security man.He supported his family of four.Now with huge influx of foreigners wages are artificially pressed down.What will young sinkies employed as security man will do if torn between survival and their youthful hormones?...this suicide is such a case.

I feel very sad and sorry fot young sinkie who cannot make it beyond "O" levels.My condolences to to the family.

 

[metalslug]

http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,212608,00.html?

Son locks family in flat after argument and jumps to his death
Father sees son's body, then...
By Chong Shin Yen

September 04, 2009




THE anguish of losing his son was too much to bear.

After seeing his body at the bottom of the HDB block, Mr N Suppiah, 55, slipped away from his relatives and went upstairs.

He then leapt to his death.


At a joint coroner's inquiry yesterday, State Coroner Eddy Tham recorded a verdict of suicide for both father and son.

The court heard that on 6 Jun this year, at about 10.30pm, Mr Selvaraja Suppiah, 25, returned home to his flat at Block 33, Telok Blangah Way following a drinking session with his friends.

After dinner, he told his mother, Madam Maliga Veerapan, 49, that he was going out for a while.

Madam Maliga tried to stop him as he had just returned home. She was worried because he seemed tipsy.

But Mr Selvaraja insisted on going out and stepped out of the ninth-floor flat.

Mr Suppiah then approached his son at the front door of the flat and started to talk about the latter being unemployed.

The conversation soon escalated into an argument. At one point, Madam Maliga warned her son to respect his father.

Mr Suppiah then walked away from the front door and told her to let their son do whatever he wished.

That was when Mr Selvaraja locked the front gate with the padlock that was hung on the gate.

When Mr Suppiah realised what he had done, he scolded him.

As Mr Selvaraja walked away from their unit, Madam Maliga heard him saying that he was a lousy son.

When he was about 2m away, Mr Selvaraja climbed over the parapet of the corridor and jumped to his death.

His parents could not find the key to open the lock and were unable to get out of the flat.

When police officers arrived, a member of the public told them that loud banging could be heard on the ninth floor.

When the police went up, they saw the occupants - Mr Suppiah, his wife, their daughter and a cousin - trying to break the padlock.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force was then called in to cut the padlock.

Mr Suppiah asked to see his son after they were let out. He was very emotional and wanted to lean against the parapet to look down at his son's body but was restrained by the officers and relatives who had rushed there.

The court heard that Mr Suppiah was then taken to the ground floor and he saw his son's body from outside the police cordon.

Relatives then accompanied him to a stone bench at the void deck. There were about 10 relatives crowding around the area then.

But Mr Suppiah managed to slip away and went up to the 10th floor of the same block, where he leapt to his death.

Both father and son were pronounced dead at the scene.

Broke up with girlfriend

The court was told that Mr Selvaraja had broken up with his girlfriend about five months before his death.

He was upset and began taking a lot of medical leave, which eventually got him sacked from his job as a safety supervisor.

According to his cousin, Mr Sinnathamby Arumoh, Mr Selvaraja was ashamed that he could not support his family.

His father, who used to run a small food stall, was also unemployed.

Madam Maliga had to look for a job to support the family. As a result of that, Mr Selvaraja developed an inferiority complex.

He soon succumbed to alcoholism and drank regularly. A toxicology report showed that he was drunk on the day he died.

Other than relationship and employment problems, Mr Selvaraja was also facing financial difficulties.

He had taken a loan on behalf of a friend who later defaulted on payment. Mr Selvaraja was being harassed by loan sharks.

Mr Suppiah left behind his wife and two other children. None of them was in court for the inquiry.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


HELPLINES

Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-221 4444

Comcare Helpline: 1800-222 0000

Family Service Centre: 1800-838 0100