Friday, February 25, 2011

A gambling-addicted family commits murder-suicide

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Friday, 25 February 2011 13:38 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A couple and their daughter who were all found dead on Tuesday in their home in Gyobingauk Township in Pegu Division were victims of a murder-suicide, according to authorities.

A legal lottery vendor in Rangoon. Burmese love to
gamble, and illegal lottery vendors are located
throughout the country. Photo : Mizzima
Ti Pwar, 39, and his wife, Kay Khine Win (aka) Mee Nge, 37, sold lottery tickets and regularly gambled on soccer matches and were burdened with large debts that totaled at least 300 million kyat (US$337,078), said sources.

Authorities said the couple first killed their daughter, Pon Pyace Sone, 3, and then committed suicide.

‘The day before the incident, their creditors were seriously demanding to be paid, and they forced the couple to sign  bonds. They didn’t know how to handle it. That’s why they committed suicide’, said an official.

A friend of the family told Mizzima: ‘They wrote  a suicide note that said they didn’t want their daughter to be looked down on and before they committed suicide, they killed her’.

The husband, Ti Pwar, also operated a gold shop in the Gyobingauk Market.

A neighbor told Mizzima that when Ti Pwar’s wife’s mother went to the victims’ house to feed her granddaughter, she found the child dead and covered with a blanket. Ti Pwar, who had drank insecticide, died near a drinking-water pot.

Insecticide powder and a suicide note signed by Ti Pwar and Kay Khine Win were found on a table near the bodies, according to witnesses, who said that when they arrived at the home, a Buddhist sermon was playing on a CD.

More than 200 townspeople attended the funeral on Wednesday.

A resident told Mizzima, ‘We are shocked. The incident is unforgettable. The child was a kindergarten student, and she was very lovely’.

Another resident in Gyobingauk said five similar incidents have happened in the area in 2010, including a case of a teacher who committed suicide by drinking insecticide after losing money in the illegal lottery.

‘The authorities do not strictly control the illegal lotteries in Gyobingauk’, he said. ‘Eight out of ten people here have spent money on illegal lotteries, so the illegal lotteries seem legal’.

Residents said that some officials in Gyobingauk, including the police and the Military Affairs Security Unit, accepted bribes from people involved in the illegal lottery.

Gambling is illegal in Burma, but many people are involved in illegal gambling operations and money lending.

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