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KOTA KINABALU: A man wanted by police for beating his housemate to death for wasting water has been arrested, with the parang used in the fatal attack still in hand.
The suspect, in his 30s, had fled after attacking Lito Salibat, who died of serious abdominal injuries, at his home on an oil palm plantation in the east coast district of Kinabatangan last Saturday.
Kinabatangan Police Chief Dzulbaharin Ismail said a manhunt launched to locate the suspect, a foreigner, led to the man being found hiding under a pile of palm oil leaves in another part of the plantation at 4 a.m. yesterday afternoon.
“When police found him, the suspect was still holding the weapon that was believed to have been used to hack the victim,” he said.
He said the suspect, who was shirtless, did not act aggressively towards police despite having the 30-inch parang with him.
“Before finding the suspect, witnesses informed police that the man had once ventured to workers’ rooms at the farm to beg for food on Monday, still holding the gun.”
Dzulbaharin said the suspect had no prior criminal record, while a urine test also found him to be negative for the drugs.
The case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
In last week’s incident, the suspect was said to be angry that the victim was wasting water frequently despite the long-standing water shortage problem at the plantation.
