Man's suicide attempt triggered three deaths in Karama flat

 Dubai: At about 5.30pm last Wednesday, he wandered into the bedroom only to see his stepfather standing on a bed with a sari tied around his neck and attached to a hook of a fan,

The stepson shouted for his mother and aunt. "If you end your life, I will end mine ..." the wife told her husband.

As the man was about to get off the bed, the stepson rushed into the next room to get a pair of scissors. He cut the sari and his stepfather collapsed to the ground.

This scene triggered three deaths in quick succession, according to Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Humaid Al Merri, Director of the Criminal Investigation Division at Dubai Police.

In two rooms of the one bedroom flat in Karama, the wife, in her late forties, her sister, 22, and stepson, 20, committed suicide, using saris to hang themselves, it emerged following police investigation.

And within minutes, the man regained consciousness. Investigations have revealed that when the stepson cut the sari with the scissors, the man had not died. He had only lost consciousness.

As Gulf News reported last week, the husband told police that depression and debt had driven him to attempt suicide.

No criminal intent

"The husband told us during investigations that the last words he heard before falling from the bed were from his wife, saying: ‘If you end your life I will end mine'," Al Merri said.

The husband remained unconscious for over an hour during which his family wrote a one-page dated letter, titled, "a suicide note", and later committed suicide thinking the husband was dead. The suicide note, in English, was written in neat, clear handwriting. Forensic experts said the letter was written in blue ink by the wife's sister.

"After examining the scene and evidence, we have ruled out criminal intent. The marks on the necks of the family members indicate suicide," he said. According to Al Merri, forensic experts did not find narcotics, poisonous or sedative substances in blood samples taken from the husband and other family members.

"We arrived at the scene at around 7pm last Wednesday to find the [bodies of the] wife and her sister lying on the floor in the living room while the [body of] stepson was in the bedroom. The husband had cut off the saris they had used to hang themselves using the same scissors the stepson had used to cut him loose," he said.

Five small chairs were used by the wife and her sister to hang themselves in the living room. While the stepson used the bed in the bedroom where his stepfather attempted suicide, said Al Merri.

The stepson is well built and in good health. There was no sign of strangulation or resistance, which rules out criminal intent, he said.

Police refused to disclose the amount of the man's debts, but said he could have sought assistance from authorities to help him out. "The debts are not that massive," Al Merri said.

When the husband was asked by police what stopped him from committing suicide after seeing his entire family dead, the husband claimed his near-death experience and seeing his family dead caused him to panic and immediately contact Dubai Police's operations room. The husband sustained minor injuries is detained at Al Rifa'a police station.