A mother who lived with her dead son’s dead body for a week has been sent to a Singapore mental hospital, media reports said.
Muhammad Saifudin Abdul Motalib, the family’s 29-year-old breadwinner, died suddenly in the family’s three-room flat.
Supainah Kasman, the mother, and her younger son, Hamzah (27), left the body where it had fallen, lying face up in a hallway with one leg propped up against a wall.
The discovery was made only after a friend visited and asked about the son. ”He’s dead for a week now,” the mother was quoted as saying.
Supainah and Hamzah are both at the Institute of Mental Health.
She and her two sons had been living at the flat for more than 20 years, but began isolating themselves after her husband died seven years ago.
Mohamed Yazzid Bahari, who visited once a week as part of the al-Amin Mosque outreach programme, said he detected a bad small.
After Supainah told him her son had been dead for a week, Yazzid reported her remarks to the mosque.
The death certificate says Saifudin died of cardio-respiratory failure, pending investigation.
Mosque manager Mohd Johan Janif described the scene in the flat as bizarre. ”The flat was dark and stuffy,” he told a newspaper. ”The windows were shut, so the smell was overpowering.” — Sapa-dpa