KUANTAN: It has been five months since father-of-one Norazman Me was found dead in police custody but his family is still in the dark over what actually transpired on the ill-fated day.
Norazman, a 25-year-old from the Runchang Orang Asli settlement in Pekan, was picked by police to assist in investigations in connection with a motorcycle theft on May 1.
He allegedly took his own life in his cell on May 4.
His mother Noriah Hitam, 51, said she was desperate to know how her eldest son died.
With tears rolling down her cheeks, the mother-of-three from the Jakun tribe said she could accept the fact that policemen had arrested Norazman as he might have committed an offence (stealing motorcycle).
"However, police are supposed to provide protection while my son is under their care (in lock-up). Police have not provided any update about his death and each time my daughter contacts them (for case progress), they will reply that the case is handled by Bukit Aman.
"I appeal to the police department's top management to conduct a fair and detailed investigation as I cannot accept the fact that my son died while in police custody.
"How can he commit suicide in the Pekan police headquarters lock-up when there are policemen on duty to guard the cells?" she said when met at lawyer Datuk S. Bob Arumugam's office here today.
Noriah said the family last met Norazman in April at their home in Runchang before he moved to stay with his uncle at Kampung Sungai Miang in Pekan.
"He wanted to look for a job and stayed there for about two weeks before I received a phone call from his aunt about 7pm on May 1. She said that police had arrested Norazman for alleged motorcycle theft and was taken to the Pekan police headquarters.
"On May 4, a policeman from the Pekan police headquarters contacted me at 8am and informed me that my son had died in the police lock-up and that his body was at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital (HTAA) in Kuantan. We went to hospital and the body was handed to the family after the post-mortem," she said, adding the cause of death was mentioned as due to "hanging".
Her husband, Me Kingking, 58, described his odd-job worker son's death as "unexplained" as to date, no one from the police department had visited the family in Runchang to shed light on the incident.
"There are several questions which remain unanswered about my son's death. We hope the police will show us the closed-circuit television cameras and tell us how my son died while inside the cell," he said, adding that Norazman had a six-year-old son.
Arumugam said the family had lodged a police report at the Pekan police headquarters on Sept 20 but had yet to receive any feedback about the investigation progress.
Arumugam, who is representing the family, said he had already requested for HTAA to provide Norazman's full post-mortem report.
Meanwhile, Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said so far police had classified the case as sudden death.
"The suspect was detained in connection with motorcycle theft in Pekan and had committed suicide while under detention," he said in a text message.