A Petaling Jaya resident recently died tragically after being locked inside of his flat.
The renter, a driver for an e-hailing firm in his 40s, has reportedly been unable to make payments for at least three months, according to Sin Chew Daily.
As a result, the landlord opted to lock the apartment, seemingly without realising that the tenant was still inside.
The tenant was stranded without a way to call for assistance or express his situation since he was unable to pay for phone credits.
Moreover, the tenant’s dead body was then found by neighbours one month after the tragedy.
Apparently, he was so severely malnourished compared to the healthier appearance he had before getting stuck inside his flat.
Reportedly, this tragedy had brought about a great deal of worry and fury in the neighbourhood and among loved ones.
The distraught family of the renter was also prepared to sue the landlord, alleging negligence on his part.
No matter if the landlord was aware of the tenant’s presence inside the flat, one of the lawyers for the family emphasised that shutting him in was most definitely a lethal mistake.
In his whole legal career, he had never encountered a case as harrowing as this one, he said.
In order to prevent future events that are similar to this one, he was also eager to spread awareness about it.
According to a report in Sin Chew Daily, the landlord believed the deceased had left and didn’t send anyone to break down the door to look inside.
She didn’t go to the unit until the evening of July 2 at 7:30 pm to bolt the iron door from the outside plus she did not realise anything had happened until she got a call from the police.
Prior to that, she repeatedly tried to reach the deceased man, but he never returned her calls.
She said she thought the deceased man had every chance to save himself and did not comprehend the family’s belief that the deceased died of starvation.
This was due to the proximity of the living room and the kitchen to the balcony of the adjacent unit. On top of that, individuals were still entering and exiting from the bottom floor.
She claimed that since the event, the investigating officer had only called to beg her to permit the deceased’s family to come pick up his stuff.
