Man found dead outside flat in Little India; 82-year-old mother’s body later found in flat

A 54-year-old man was found dead in the street yesterday outside the same Little India apartment building where his mother’s corpse was discovered just 45 minutes later.

Police confirmed to The Straits Times that were alerted to the case of unnatural death at Block 637 Veerasamy Road at about 6:45am, while the body of the man’s 82-year-old mother was found motionless in the 11th floor flat of the Housing Development Block (HDB) where they lived together.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene, Today reported.

According to Zaobao, authorities were first alerted to the death of the mother when concerned neighbors saw her lying unconscious on her bed. The same publication suggested the possibility of a murder-suicide, though police have drawn no conclusions thus far and investigations are ongoing.

It is understood the wheelchair-bound mother suffered from dementia and that her son was her only caregiver.

A next door neighbor, identified as Mr. Ong, 60, told Today that the mother’s cries can be heard on a daily basis.

“When he goes down to buy lunch and dinner for his mum, if he takes quite a while, she will cry very loudly. My wife would go over to pacify her and tell her that we are calling her son. The other neighbours would go over because her cries were so loud,” Ong said.

“The mother would always scold him and nag him. He was so pitiful,” he added.

Another neighbor who lived on the 12th floor (who did not want to be named), shared that the son had a history of borrowing money.

“He came to my father and asked for S$100. He was working in a provision shop, but for the last few months, I think he didn’t have a job. He also always went for 4D, gambling,” said the neighbor in an interview with ChannelNewsAsia.

A 72-year-old resident told Zaobao, that he last saw the mother-and-son on Monday evening at about 7pm, dressed to the nines and heading out of the flat together.

Another resident said neighbors were surprised to see the pair dressed up and heading out that night as the mother was not mobile, and the son rarely took her out except for medical checkups.