KUCHING: Police were forced to use a taser gun to stop a woman from committing suicide by setting herself on fire at Kampung Bintawa Tengah near here, early this morning.
The woman, 40, had doused herself in petrol and voiced her intention to take her own life.
A team from the Kuching district police's multi-purpose vehicle unit was despatched to the scene upon receiving a distress call from the woman's mother at 12.30am.
"Our men tried to persuade the woman against carrying out her plan, but she refused to listen.
"We were left with no choice but to use a taser gun on her.
"We feared her action would have caused harm to her neighbours (as well as herself)," Kuching district police chief Assistant Commissioner Abang Ahmad Abang Julai said.
Police seized a bottle of petrol and a cake knife from the woman.
Abang Ahmad said the woman was arrested and remanded for four days under Section 309 of the Penal Code for attempted suicide.