Over the past decade, there have been several shocking cases of children who were brutally assaulted and killed. In this first of three articles, a lawyer explains why it is difficult to prevent such horrific crimes from recurring.
KUALA LUMPUR: Nurul Huda Abdul Ghani, Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, Nurul Nadirah Abdullah and Noor Amila Edrus Norsham. These names will remain etched in the hearts and minds of Malaysians for they were all young children who were victims of heinous crimes.
Aged between five and 10, the children were reported missing before their bodies were found. Some were apparently brutally murdered after being raped, sodomised and tortured.
There seems to be no end to such horrendous incidents. Just last month, on Feb 9, the mutilated body of Siti Masitah Ibrahim, 11, was found in an oil palm plantation at Kampung Tanjung Medang Hilir in Pekan, Pahang.
Her body was found decapitated and with some internal organs missing. Siti Masitah was reported missing by her mother on Jan 30.
A 23-year-old Cambodian man, who was known to the victim’s family, was arrested in connection with the brutal murder. Police believe revenge was a possible motive for the murder.
Children who are meant to be loved and protected are being mercilessly and ruthlessly ravaged and killed by seemingly normal adults. It is even more distressing when the perpetrators are known to the victims and their families.
Anyone can be a predator
According to lawyer Muhammad Hafiz Hood, even friends, relatives and ones within own families have the potential to commit such a crime.
Muhammad Hafiz, who is attached to the legal firm of Farhan Maaruf & Co, said Siti Masitah’s case was similar to that of five-year-old Nurul Nadirah Abdullah, who was molested and killed by odd-job worker Muidin Maidin on March 12, 2012. (In June, 2013, the High Court sentenced Muidin to death after finding him guilty of killing Nurul Nadirah).
“The initial facts drawn from the suspects’ confessions showed that they committed the crime as an act of revenge against their respective victim’s family. In the case of Siti Masitah, the case is not at the trial stage yet so the accuracy of the facts is still questionable,“ he said.
He said in any sexual or violent crime, there is a high probability of the predator being someone close to the victim’s family.
“It’s hard to accept it but it is true. Parents and family members shouldn’t take it lightly if their children complain of something unusual that has happened to them.
“They should always be careful and shouldn’t place their full trust on anyone because a criminal act can occur any time and in any circumstances when it is least expected,“ he told Bernama, when met recently.
Three main factors
Muhammad Hafiz, who has been handling civil litigation and criminal cases including juvenile cases for the last six years, said incest, sexual assault and rape were crimes commonly committed by those who were close to the families of the victims.
He said the offenders in many of the incest and sexual assault cases tried under Section 354 of the Penal Code and rape cases under Section 376 of the same code involved people known to the families. In some instances, the offender was the biological father of the victim herself.
Statistics revealed by the Selangor Criminal Investigation Department in November 2018 showed that 75.5% of sexual crimes against children that occurred in the state were committed by individuals known to the victims. Some of the perpetrators had blood ties with their victims while others included stepbrothers, husbands of babysitters, neighbours and boyfriends, he added.
According to Muhammad Hafiz, three factors contribute to such crimes, namely predator, the vulnerability of the victim and external circumstances.
Not only are these factors closely linked to one another, but they are also difficult to control, he said.
“Based on the facts of cases produced in court, most of the offenders involved in sexual crimes against children and women have a past criminal record or were under the influence of drugs or had a grudge against the victim.
“And, when the victim is in a vulnerable state and seen as an easy target, the probability of her becoming a victim of a brutal murder gets higher as the perpetrator has every chance to vent out his lust and rage,“ he explained.
This is why, he added, one could not afford to ignore the issue of external circumstances as several cases involving the murder of children have shown a clear pattern or evidence that the victims were alone without supervision and not very far from where they lived, and some of them even knew the offenders.
Stricter legislation
Asked if Malaysia needed a more stringent and effective law to check crimes against children, Muhammad Hafiz said the nation did not need a new act to deal with such crimes.
“We already have laws that were basically well drafted to address such crimes, including physical abuse and sexual crimes,“ he said.
The Child Act 2001, Penal Code and Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 are all part of the government’s efforts to address sexual and physical violence against children, he said.
He said many cases have also been resolved after they were brought to the special court for child sexual crimes in Putrajaya, that was launched in June 2017.
The existing acts were still relevant but “in the wider perspective, the penalty provided may not be firm enough”, he said.
The narrative for the existing penalty for child murderers and rapists is that it still falls within the scope of the same theory of punishment meant for other offenders.
Muhammad Hafiz said in the classic theory of punishment, the basic concepts for its justification are retribution, deterrence, prevention, rehabilitation and incapacitation. The offender and the community’s rights are the two aspects that have to be taken into account when considering the penalty, he added.
Stressing that the government should not abolish the mandatory death sentence, he said Parliament should, instead, propose to impose the death sentence on convicted child rapists or murderers.
(Last October, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said a study to abolish the mandatory death sentence was in the final stage before being presented to the Cabinet. He said the study was being conducted by the Attorney-General’s Chambers following the government’s intention to abolish the death penalty in accordance with the International Standards on Human Rights.)
“Currently, the penalty for offenders is limited to imprisonment and whipping. Is this penalty adequate enough to deter criminals from committing the same crime?” he asked.
Community’s role
The community also has a role to play to ensure the safety of the people, especially children, who lived in their surroundings.
“However, the question is to what extent do we have absolute control over our environment to prevent such crimes from occurring? Our millennial generation cannot afford to be reclusive what with all those platforms they have to channel their concern if they come across anything suspicious. The people should use the Internet and social media as weapons to create a caring society,“ said Muhammad Hafiz.
He said at times it was necessary to be a busybody to ensure the safety of the neighbourhood one lived in.
“What is the point of having services (such as Nur Alert) to spread information quickly to help trace missing children if the community refuses to report to the authorities when something out of the norm happens?” he asked.
In many child sexual and physical violence cases tried in court, it was revealed that the offender had taken advantage of the surrounding circumstances and the indifferent attitude of the public to commit the crime, he added.
Cases of children who were found murdered
>> On Jan 17, 2004, Nurul Huda Abdul Ghani, 10, was found dead inside the toilet at Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s guardhouse at Kampung Pekajang in Tanjung Kupang, Johor Bahru.
The victim was sodomised and raped before she was killed by a former security guard.
>> Nurin Jazlin Jazimin was eight when she went missing on Aug 20, 2007, after going to the pasar malam near her house in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur, on her own.
Her parents were devastated when their daughter’s body was found stuffed inside a sports bag in Petaling Jaya 27 days after she went missing. Little Nurin Jazlin was found to have been sexually assaulted before she was brutally murdered.
Even more horrifying was the fact that a post-mortem conducted on her body showed that the perpetrator had stuffed a cucumber and brinjal inside her genitals which caused her rectum to rupture.
>> Nurul Nadirah Abdullah (who was fondly known as Dirang), 5, was reported missing on March 1, 2012, after she went out to buy instant noodles and eggs from a sundry shop near her house at the Seri Delima Flats in Bandar Seri Alam, Johor Baru.
The charred remains of the little girl were found at a plantation in Nusa Damai, Johor, on March 12, 2012. A DNA testing with a sample from her mother confirmed her identity.
>> The body of Noor Amila Edrus, 5, who went missing on Aug 11, 2016, was found a week later in the undergrowth at Kampung Kemensah, Hulu Kelang.
Police later detained a 26-year-old man in connection with the murder of the boy. — Bernama
