Snatch theft: Another pregnant woman killed

KOTA BARU: A woman who was four months’ pregnant died after a run-in with snatch thieves here, just days following a similar incident in Johor Baru which also saw the deaths of a pregnant woman and her unborn child.

In the 10:50am incident on Wednesday, Saripah Mohd Nor, 34, of Kampung Kok Bedullah, Tumpat here was riding on her motorcyle on a busy road along Kampung Padang Raja, Melor, Ketereh when two men came up behind her on another motorcyle.

One of them tried to snatch her handbag, which was slung around her neck. The tussle caused her to fall off her motorbike and she was hit by a passing car. She and her four-month-old foetus died on the spot.

The mother of five was on her way to Bachok where her estranged husband Mat Zani Awang, 39, is living.

Kota Baru OCPD Assistant Comm Zahruddin Abdullah said Saripah had suffered head, hand and leg injuries.

Police who were on the scene within minutes of the incident, believe the two suspects are in their 20s.

“We have compiled witnesses accounts, including that of the driver of the car who lodged a police report.

“I want to appeal to anyone with any information to come forward and assist us in solving this case,” he told reporters at a press conference at the district police station here Wednesday.

ACP Zahruddin said that Saripah’s body was sent to the Raja Perempuan Zainab Hospital for a post-mortem before her remains were released to her next of kin.

He said the case was being investigated under Section 304 of the Penal Code, and the perpetrators, if found guilty, could be jailed for up to two years and fined or both.

Local resident Zakaria Yaakub, 45, said witnesses who saw the incident had tried to apprehend the suspects but to no avail.

In Tumpat, Saripah’s mother Hashimah Hussin, 54, said she was deeply saddened by the incident, especially since Saripah was in the process of a divorce.

“Her last words to me, before she left for her husband’s home in Bachok, was for me to care of three-year-old Siti Najwa, her youngest daughter.

“Lately, she has always been telling me to take care of all her children if anything were to happen to her,” Hashimah said.

“She was on her way to her husband’s house to fetch her son Mohd Shawal Nabil, eight -- the other three children are living with her husband,” she said at her home here.

Hashimah said Saripah had been living with her for the past two weeks and had separated from her husband.

Saripah was buried at the Kampung Kok Bedullah Muslim cemetery later Wednesday.