CRIMES THAT SHOCKED THE NATION
Cases include two foreign women, who allegedly murdered an international figure, and a ‘Monster Dad’ who committed 623 sexual acts against daughter
KHAIRAH N. KARIM
AND RAHMAT KHAIRULRIJAL KUALA LUMPUR news@nst.com.my
MALAYSIA drew international attention in March when two foreign women were charged with murdering Kim Jongnam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The trial of the duo — Siti Aisyah, 25, from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam — began in October and will continue next month at the High Court in Shah Alam.
The youths allegedly responsible for the deaths of Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain and T. Nhaveen in June, which put the country’s bullying phenomenon in the spotlight, were charged in court.
Zulfarhan, 21, was a navy cadet officer. Nineteen National Defence University of Malaysia students were charged with causing hurt to him with the intention of extracting a confession over the alleged theft of a laptop. Six of them were charged with murdering Zulfarhan, who suffered severe injuries, including burns on his body, believed to be from having a steam iron pressed onto his chest, hands and feet. The Kuala Lumpur High Court has set 14 days, beginning Jan 29 next year, for the trial.
Nhaveen, 18, was assaulted by a group of boys as he was returning home with a friend. Four teenagers were charged with his murder at the magistrate’s court in Penang. It was reported that the attackers had inserted a foreign object into his anus during the assault.
Following the deadly fire at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah religious school in September, two 16-year-old boys were slapped with 23 counts of murdering 21 students and two wardens.
They were charged with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death penalty. However, their punishment would be under Section 91(1) of the Child Act 2001, which includes whipping, fine or detention at an approved school.
In June, Malaysia opened a special court that deals with sexual crimes against children, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. The court was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on June 22, and within six months of its establishment, it managed to dispose of 274 of 350 cases filed here, in Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Putrajaya.
One of the cases heard by the court involved a man dubbed “Monster Dad”, who committed 623 sexual crimes, including rape and sodomy, against his 15-yearold daughter. The 36-year-old man, who admitted to his crimes, was sentenced to 12,468 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the rotan.
Another case was of a single mother, who was sentenced to 75 years’ jail after pleading guilty to 10 counts of forcing her daughters, aged 10 and 13, into prostitution. The 39-year-old woman had forced the girls to engage in sexual intercourse with two Bangladeshi men on five occasions at a budget hotel while she watched.
In a landmark decision in July, the Court of Appeal ruled that a child conceived out of wedlock may bear the father’s name and should no longer carry the surname “bin Abdullah”.
A major highlight this year was the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) foreign exchange losses in the 1980s and 1990s.
The proceedings to scrutinise the scandal convened on Aug 8 until Sept 19 at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya. Twentyfive witnesses, including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, were called up and 42 documents submitted.
The RCI, in its 528-page report that was tabled in Parliament on Nov 30, said it believed that Anwar had misled the government and concealed BNM’s actual losses. The report confirmed that the central bank had incurred losses amounting to RM31.5 billion.
Two Islamic State supporters, who carried out the first-ever bombing in Malaysia, were sentenced to 25 years’ jail by the Kuala Lumpur High Court for hurling a hand grenade and injuring eight people at a nightclub in Puchong on June 28 last year. The duo were also convicted of providing support to terror acts with the intention of threatening the people of Malaysia via the Telegram application.