Couple commits suicide over $23,427 loan - Shepherd Digest Magazine

A couple has committed suicide due to their alleged inability to repay a loan they had taken at ridiculous rate.

The couple reportedly owed too much money to loan sharks.

A loan shark is a person or organisation that offers loans at extremely high interest rates, and then use threat or blackmail to force the debtors to repay.

The couple’s bodies were found on Tuesday in their unit in Bayu Mutiara flats in Malaysia, along with two suicide notes.

Chinapress reports that one of the notes listed out about nine of the loan sharks’ names, along with the amount that they owed — about RM100,000 ($23,427.72 or N7,373,873.61)

One of the notes also said, “If the lady survives, then give my RM20,000 ($4,685.54) Employee Provident Fund to her;” while the other note said, “If both of us are dead, please buy the cheapest caskets for us and throw our ashes in the river.”

The bodies were identified as Sim Hun Khong, 47, and Tam Soo Sim, 35, , from Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia, who had already been living together for five years and were planning to get married soon.

Khong was working as a factory operator, while Tam was working in an advertising firm.

Reports claim that the method of suicide was by inhaling charcoal fumes.

Their bodies were found lying on the bed, side by side after neighbours lodged a police report about the foul smell coming from their flat.

As the door was locked from inside, the police had to break down the door to enter.The tragic couple, Sim Hun Khong and Tam Soo Sim.Their corpses. Photos: ChinaPress

ACP Nik Ros said, “We found two stoves with burnt charcoal beside the bed. The gap under the door of the room was blocked with a cloth to prevent smoke from escaping, while the main door was locked with a padlock.”

Initial investigations showed that the couple had been dead for more than three days due to the level of decomposition.

Tam’s family said they were aware that she had financial problems and had last seen her on Mother’s Day on May 14, during which they had given her RM3,500 ($819.97) to settle her debts.

Neighbours described the couple as “friendly and loving,” but admitted that they had seen men coming to collect debts from them before.

Their bodies were cremated at the Berapit Chinese Cemetery on Tuesday.