The Maid - Unholy Acts In The Holiest Place (14)

Another Indonesian maid dies in S. Arabia 
Mustaqim Adamrah

“Sister, I’m sick. I cannot stop vomiting blood. If I die, please do me a favor. I entrust father and mother to you.”

It was the last text message from 18-year-old Ernawati binti Sujono Konderin, an Indonesian migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, sent to her family on Jan. 26 before her final contact by the phone with her older sister, Yenni Larasati, on Feb. 1.

“I was really sad when reading her fi nal text message. I rushed to Jakarta on Jan. 31 from Tanjung Pinang [Riau Islands] to report Ernawati’s situation to the Foreign Ministry,”
Yenni said on Tuesday in a press conference at Migrant CARE Headquarters.

“On Feb. 1, [Ernawati] said over the phone that her employer’s son had tried to rape her. She was crying. After that, there were no more calls or text messages from her.”

Yenni said Ernawati was forced to kneel while her employer often slapped, punched, kicked, threw things at her or whipped her with a hose.
The employer’s lover allegedly followed suit.
She never received her salary, Yenni added.

Ernawati died on Feb. 10, 10 days after Yenni filed the report, from injuries allegedly sustained from physical abuse at the hands of her employer and his lover, according to Yenni.

“Every time I asked a ministry employee about my report, they told me it was still being processed — until my sister’s co-worker called our family on Feb. 10, saying she had died.”

Yenni said she was finally convinced of her sister’s death on Feb. 13, when someone at a hospital called her on Ernawati’s cell phone after Yenni’s numerous text messages and phone calls went unanswered.

“The guy at the other end said there was an Indonesian who had died and had been at the hospital for three days. I got all this information on my own, not from the ministry or the embassy,” Yenni said.

In a letter the Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Gatot Abdullah Mansyur, sent in February to the foreign minister, the manpower and transmigration minister and the head of the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI), he said that the Al-Muntazah police in Hail had received a report about an Indonesian migrant worker who was being treated for swallowing rat poison.

“How can the ministry and the embassy say my sister died from rat poison while at the same time they tell me an autopsy on her body is about to begin?” Yenni said.

She also said the ministry and the embassy insisted they could not reach Ernawati’s workplace in time because it was in Hail, 700 kilometers from the embassy.

“Was it really that hard to get there? I flew from Tanjung Pinang, more than a thousand kilometers from Jakarta, to seek justice and it took only one hour and 20 minutes,” she said.

“Had they immediately followed up on my report and evacuated my sister, she might still alive now.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene and the director for legal aid and protection of Indonesian nationals overseas, Tatang Budie Utama Razak, could not be reached for comment.

University of Indonesia international relations expert Hariyadi Wirawan said embassy staff did not arrive in time possibly due to diplomats’ reluctance to travel that distance or a lack of financial and human resources.

Only two weeks ago, an Indonesian maid named Ruyati binti Satubi was beheaded by Saudi authorities after being convicted of murdering her employer, who had mistreated her.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Indonesia Abdulrahman Mohammed Amen al-Khayyat at the latter’s request at the State Palace on Tuesday.

However, instead of expressing displeasure, Yudhoyono hailed Saudi Arabia for “giving aid” to an Islamic organization.

Migrant CARE executive director Anis Hidayah said she had reported the ministry, the embassy and the BNP2TKI to the Ombudsman Commission, which receives complaints of poor public service, for alleged “negligence that led to Ernawati’s death”.

Source: The Jakarta Post - June 30, 2011

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Divorcee Ruyati binti Satubi became a migrant worker for the first time in 1999.
She returned to Saudi Arabia again and worked for six years.

Her children asked her to change her mind when she was about to leave for the third time.
She was adamant of not wanting to see her three children facing bleak future.
One of them is in nursing school.
And she wanted to buy her son a car.

She insisted to fly to the Holy Land seeking fortune yet again, only to meet bitterness.
After a year and four months, she was beheaded.

From information that the family gathered, the grandmother of seven was tortured a lot from the very beginning of employment.
She had broken her leg during the initial three months, because of torture.
She was not admitted to hospital, but was treated by one of her employer’s children was a doctor.

Although Ruyati was a victim of violence by her employer, during trial, Ruyati confessed murdering 64-year old Khairiyah Majlad on 12 January, 2010.

She was not paid her three-months salary of SR 2400 despite being asked many times.
She was found guilty of of ruthlessly killing her employer, by repeatedly stabbing her.

For her offense, the 54-year old housemaid was executed by decapitation in Saudi Arabia.
One more Indonesian worker was beheaded in Saudi Arabia, on June 18, 2011.

The Indonesian embassy had not been advised beforehand about the execution.
The government saw the beheading as an unfair decision.
The execution over Ruyati is a great shock for many, irritated a lot of parties.

Migrant Care, an NGO that works for the rights of Indonesian migrant workers stressed that the government has failed to protect its citizen.
It had earlier reminded the government about Ruyati’s legal process in March 2011.

But the government denied it had been slow in preventing the decapitation penalty.
The execution has left Yudhoyono's government on the defensive as critics said there was not enough protection for Indonesian workers overseas.

Indonesia had summoned the Saudi envoy to express its "disappointment and deep regret" over the execution.

"We respect their legal system, but in this case, we feel they have failed to fulfil the Geneva convention on how to interact among countries," Teuku Faizasyah, the presidential spokesman for international affairs told Reuters.

"(The Saudi government) are being disrespectful of convention, they should have informed the embassy on any occurrence involving our nationals, especially in such cases where they are planning to execute our nationals," he said.

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Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Indonesia Abdulrahman Mohammed Amin Al-Khayyat on Monday, June 20, had apologised for the execution of Ruyati.

He expressed regret that Indonesian Embassy was not given prior notice of the execution.
He assured Indonesia that it will not happen ever again.

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Through RI Consulate General in Jeddah, the government has fought hard against the death penalty.
It had requesting the Saudi Board of Pardon (lajnatul afwu) to release Ruyati.

But the deceased family did not forgive her act.
The family did not forgive their 54-year old domestic helper Ruyati binti Satubi.

Indonesian government could not break the rigidity of death sentence in Saudi Arabia.

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Ruyati’s three children in Bekasi, West Java, were initially informed by Migrant Care of Ruyati’s first hearing session on May 17, 2010.

In January 2011, they were told that the case was still on-going.
The family was then notified by the Foreign Ministry about the schedule for the next hearing that would take place in May 2011.

They had been struggling hard to find news about their mother's condition in foreign land.

Before long, a verdict was delivered, followed by an execution without them ever knowing anything about it.

Four hours before the mother was to be executed, one of her daughter saw the sight of 'her' in their kitchen.

Later, Migrant Care called to inform the mother had passed away.

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The only person who had knowledge of the violence that led to 54-year-old Ruyati murdering her employer was Warni.
She is a fellow Indonesian worker who was hired by Ruyati’s employer too.

She knew a great deal about what Ruyati had to endure prior to the murder as they slept in the same room. She witnessed how the grandmother was punched and kicked.

Warni was reluctant to discuss Ruyati’s ordeal as it was Ruyati’s own request.
The grandmother had told her not to tell the children about what she saw.
She only revealed the truth after local police in Mecca moved in to arrest her.

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Irwan Setiawan, the youngest of Ruyati’s three children, remember his mother as “a quiet and well-adjusted woman”.
She was reluctant to talk much about hardship she endured as a migrant worker.
She only talked about the good things in Saudi Arabia.

Irwan expressed his disappointment towards the role of the Indonesian government in helping his mother’s cause.
He felt neglected.

Ruyati’s family said they were let down by PT Dasa Graha Utama, a labour recruiting company which arranged Ruyati’s employment in Saudi Arabia.
At her age, Ruyati should have been ineligible to be sent abroad as a domestic worker.
The company had falsified information about the grandmother's age by registering her as 11 years younger.

Both the government and PT Dasa Graha Utama have responded to the grievances from Ruyati’s family by offering Rp 90 million (US$10,440) in compensation.

The family would wait until they have their mother's body home, despite information from the government that she was already been buried in Mecca, not far from the body of Saidatina Siti Khadijah, the wife of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

There are 216 Indonesians overseas facing execution, including 26 in Saudi Arabia.

Currently, there are 2.2 million Indonesians working in Malaysia and 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia.
Around 90 percent work as house maids and drivers for individual employers.

The Maid - Her Right? Of Having Male Friend (2)

31-year old Ruliyawati was flown directly to Semarang, Central Java with a Lion Air flight Y 864 at 10:35 a.m. local time.
It arrived in Semarang at 11:40 a.m. today Friday morning.

Her body  was discovered on Monday morning, in a water tank serving residents of  Block 686B, Woodlands Drive 73, in one of the eight, 2-meter-deep water tank in the building atop the 15-storey Housing Development Board block of flats in Woodlands.
She had been working there, for an employer identified only as Wang, on the sixth floor.

From Kendal, Central Java, Ruliyawati was reported to have entered Singapore in July 2010, finding work through Indonesian placement agency, PT Dafa Putra Jaya.

MigrantCARE, an NGO focusing on migrant worker issues has called on the Indonesian government to immediately take charge of the legal proceedings pertaining to the alleged murder of Ruliyawati.

She was married and had a four-year-old son in Indonesia.

Bangladeshi cleaner, 27-year old Md Repon Mostafa, was charged with her murder between 7:10 a.m. and 9:54 a.m.

The case is still being investigates by the local authorities.
The police was informed at about 10 a.m., believed to have been placed by a colleague of the suspect, an employee of Sergent Services Pte. Ltd., which offers conservancy services.

The suspect killer may have had access to the roof as part of his job as a maintenance worker.
He was limping and had cuts on his legs when he was led away by the police at 10.40am.
He was remanded for investigation at the Singapore Central Police Division for a week.
If convicted, he would face the death penalty.

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Ruliyawati was described as petite and attractive.
Her family's financial problems forced her to come to Singapore, leaving behind her child.

Both migrant workers met just a month after she started work here in August last year.

It was almost a near-daily routine for Ruliyawati to go to the minimart for newspapers or canned food for her employers while her man and his friends would buy groceries or newspapers from the minimart in the evening.

They can be seen chatting at the void deck of Block 686B, or having a heated argument.
The couple often quarreled at the void deck and in secluded stairwells at the block, and these tiffs revolved around Ruliyawati's family.

But on the Monday morning, stormy relationship ended for good when the Bangladeshi cleaner placed the Indonesian maid's body in one of eight rooftop water tanks.

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Some residents of Block 686B, called the Sembawang Town Council to complain of slightly yellowish and unnaturally foamy water when they turned on their taps on Monday morning.
Instead, their water supply was cut off at 11am, citing 'maintenance work' was being done.

Some assumed that the water pipes were malfunctioning.
It was only later in the day that the horrifying news spread that an Indonesian maid working there had been found dead in one of eight water tanks atop the 15-storey block.

One resident reported seeing bloodstains in the lift and blood droplets at the lift landing.

The stories circulated quickly and residents rushed to the foot of the block to draw water from the washing area at the void deck.
168 households may have had their drinking water supply affected by the housemaid's body.
Residents were seen queuing up with pails and pots to draw water from the washing area.
Some residents were upset that they had been using water not knowing it may have been contaminated.

The PUB received a report of the incident at 3.30pm.
Water supply was immediately stopped.
Water bags were hand out to residents and water supply restored after the town council flushing and washing the tanks and distribution pipes.

Police received a call informing them of the dead body at 10am.
The Indonesian domestic helper was pronounced dead at 1pm.

Some residents recalled hearing screams and a couple arguing loudly in the morning at 7am.
No police report was made as it was thought to be just a domestic tiff.
Some residents witnessed a man and woman arguing with each other on Monday morning.
The man was seen choking the woman.

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Singapore's High Court sentenced to death in early January 2010, 35-year old Kamarul Hasan Abdul Quddus, a Bangladeshi worker involved in a love triangle with an Indonesian maid, 25-year old Yulia Afriyanti, more than two years earlier.

Kamarul Hasan was found guilty of strangling his girlfriend Yulia, on December 16, 2007.
Her time of death was estimated to be about 4.16am that day.

But the Bangladeshi construction worker claimed she was dead when he found her.
He claimed he was asleep in his dormitory the night she was murdered.

During the 15-day-trial, Kamrul has stuck to his story that he had last seen Yulia on the evening of December 15, 2007 near her employer's house in Grange Road, got into intimate relationship at a nearby park, then left at 9pm.

They planned to meet again nine hours later at his worksite at the Viz@Holland condominium, and had inadvertently taken her phone back with him when they parted at 9pm.
He stayed in the dorm until about 4am to meet her again.

He had gone to meet her at his worksite earlier, as she had complained that a man he knew as Joseph was trying to force her to go to the airport and a hotel that night.

He took a taxi there, and claimed he found her naked body stuffed in a cardboard box in a storeroom of a third-floor unit.
He said he was so frightened that he kept mum about his grisly find.

******

An ez-link card found on Kamarul had been used for a trip from Kaki Bukit to Queensway at about midnight.

Phone records showed that between 1.45am and 2.10am, there were text messages between Kamarul and Yulia, five missed calls from him and one successful call.

DNA evidence revealed that he had  sexual relationship with the 25-year-old Indonesian maid within the 12 hours before she was found dead at the condominium worksite in Queensway where he worked.

Police found Yulia's phone and jewellery in his Kaki Bukit dormitory locker when he was arrested on December 19.

He claimed the watch and jewellery which had Yulia's DNA on these items, found  in his locker were not hers, but items he had bought for his wife back home.

But Yulia's employer testified that she had bought the watch and used it before giving it to her maid.

The employer and some of the 69 witnesses had also testified that Ms Yulia told them she and Kamrul would be welcoming his mother and a younger sibling at the airport on the day she was found dead.

Yulia's body was found by a construction worker Md Avir Ramijuddinmiah at about 9.50am on 16 Dec 2007.
He informed his supervisor, who then alerted the project's main contractor.

Her naked body was found in a big 1m long and 3/4m wide cardboard box in the bomb shelter of a third-storey unit at a condominium construction site in Queensway, near Holland Road, where Kamarul Hasan had worked.
She is alleged to have died at the hands of her lover in a crime of passion.

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Kamrul met Yulia at a social gathering, introduced by a mutual friend in 2005.
They became intimate a year later in January 2007, and would meet once or twice a month.

In September the same year, she told her employers and friends that she was returning to Indonesia and would be marrying Kamrul there.

But a month later, the marriage was called off.

Yulia confided in her employers that Kamrul was already married in Bangladesh with two children.

At the same time, Kamrul was back in Bangladesh in September and October 2007.

In mid December, Yulia met Kamrul while taking the dog for its evening walk from a residence in Grange Road.
He then returned to his dormitory in Kaki Bukit but at 11.30pm, he took a bus to his worksite.

Less than eight hours later, a construction worker found Yulia's body in the cardboard box.

His (Kamarul) fingerprints were found at the crime scene and DNA test showed they had sexual relationship before her death.
The evidence thus proved that the accused strangled the deceased.

******

 
Yulia's number was given to the above, 25-year old Joseph Guerzon Corpuza, a Filipino construction worker here, in early October 2007.
Aunt Annabelle, a close friend of his, introduced the couple.

He called her on that very day and they made plans to meet on her day off on Sunday, October 14.

They spent the afternoon at the East Coast Park before window shopping at City Plaza.
He then took her to her employer's house at Grange Heights.
She told him that she had a boyfriend but had returned to Bangladesh.

Their relationship blossomed.
They too became intimate, planned to marry but she never broke up with Kamrul.
They continued their frequent and intimate telephone conversations.

Beside Sundays' meetings, he would sometimes travel from Boon Lay to Grange Heights to meet her when she walked her employer's dog at the condominium at 8 pm every night.

They had sexual relationship in November despite Yulia's fear of getting pregnant again.
The pregnancy was aborted.
He was not informed who the father was.
It was on one of those Sunday meeting when Yulia asked Joseph to answer her phone from Kamrul.
Kamarul had planned to marry Yulia.

The last time Joseph saw Yulia alive was on Dec 9, 2007, and it was then that she told him she was still deeply in love with her former boyfriend Kamrul Hasan, and that they were getting married in January.

Yulia was in a love triangle with Kamrul and Joseph, before she finally decided on Kamarul.

She offered to return the handphone Joseph had given her but he declined as he wanted to keep in touch with her and try to win her over.
Joseph was heartbroken despite telling Yulia to take care of herself when on the evening of December 15, when she called to tell him she was going to Changi Airport with Kamrul to welcome his mother and brother.

Although Kamarul told the court that Yulia had called him to complain that Joseph was allegedly forcing her to have a relationship, Joseph did not even know the location of the condominium.
He was at home on the day the crime was committed.

He tried to contact her many times but failed to do so.
In court, Joseph identified the phone he had given to her.

When he managed to phone Yulia a few days after Yulia talk of her marriage plan to Kamarul, a police officer answered, saying his former girlfriend was dead and that the police wanted to talk to him.

The Maid - Unholy Acts In The Holiest Place (3)

Serial Killing: Victims’ Bodies Lay Unclaimed
YANBU: The bodies of two Asian housemaids who were raped and murdered by a serial killer three years ago are still at a hospital morgue in Yanbu while the authorities await the consent of their relatives to bury them.

The body of a third housemaid, who was also raped and murdered by the same man, was buried some time ago.
Yanbu police arrested the man, who is of African origin, last September following his son’s arrest.
The man has admitted to the rape and murder of the three women over the last four years. The Prosecution and Investigation Commission is currently completing paperwork to begin court proceedings against the man.
Al-Madinah newspaper reported on Saturday quoting Dr. Abdul Rahman Saeedi, director of the Health Affairs Department in Yanbu, that one of the three bodies was buried and the remaining two bodies were still at a morgue.
“We have yet to receive any letter from the concerned authorities with regard to consent from their relatives to bury them,” Saeedi said.
Ibrahim Al-Abadi, a prominent lawyer and former head of investigations at the Prosecution and Investigation Commission, said keeping dead bodies at morgues indefinitely is a violation of rules.
“With regard to unidentified bodies, forensic experts should carry out post-mortems to determine the actual causes of death. Bodies should be photographed and fingerprints should be taken, in addition to DNA samples. All these procedures should be completed within a period of two months,” he said.
“Then the body should be buried once clearance is received from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health. If a relative claims the body or identifies it through the data the authorities have then they are entitled to exhume the mortal remains,” the lawyer said.
According to Al-Abadi, the murderer, called Auda Ahmad, should be handed the death penalty.
Ahmad has confessed to kidnapping runaway housemaids to avoid being detected. He would then torture the women, rape them and dump their bodies in desert areas after disfiguring them.
Yanbu police had been searching for the man for around four years before finally arresting him on the basis of information received from his son who was arrested for begging.
Ahmad was arrested on Sept. 1, 2010, while attempting to lure another housemaid who would have been his fourth victim.
The bodies of the three maids were so badly disfigured that police were unable to identify them. One of the bodies was found buried on Yanbu Corniche in a plastic bag. The body of another had been found with stab wounds and acid scalds over her face.
The third body was found already decomposing in a remote area close to a rest house near the town of Umluj.
Police found the serial killer with several forged ID cards and pictures of housemaids on his mobile phone, including a photograph of one of the three women.
None of the women’s relatives or sponsors have so far come forward to claim their bodies.

Source: Arab News - Saturday, January 22, 2011

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The attorney general has presented the file to the court and will seek the death penalty for 45-year old Owdhah Ahmad.
The man should be beheaded under Shariah if the charges that he had allegedly killed, raped and burned the bodies of the three women are proven.
The case is expected to be looked at by a panel of three judges.

The arrest came after a four-year manhunt involving officers from Madinah and Yanbu.
Police investigators had detained and interrogated a number of suspects.

After a four-year search, security services arrested the thug who confessed the torture of three Indonesian maids, maiming the bodies, mutilating and burnt them after sex to rid evidence.

The bodies of the victims were then dump in remote areas, in different locations in the city.

After months of relationship started in Cornish, the culprit claimed his first victim on Sept. 20, 2007 (Ramadhan 8, 1428H).

He helped the victim escaped from her employer and heavy workload, after promising the maid of getting her transferred to another household with attractive salary.

He hit the victim on the head, and burnt her.

The remain was placed on dirty road among palm trees and with strewn stems in an uninhabited area.

Yanbu police found the badly mutilated maid's body in an area in Al-Nakheel Road in 2007 close to a rest house. 

Authorities were unable to determine the deceased identity.

The second prey was found in Yanbu Corniche.

The killer succeeded in luring and taking her to a remote area before raping her.

He then struck her head with a big rock, killing her instantly.

He committed his second murder on June 26, 2008 (Jumadil Akhir 22, 1429).

The victim's head was shaved.

After mutilating her body, she was put into a bag and buried under the sand at the beach. 

Foul smell led the discovery of the disintegrated body by a group of children playing at the beach near Corniche of Yanbu Industrial City.

The picture released by the Yanbu police shows officials moving the body of Owdhah Ahmad’s third victim, who was killed on Aug. 10, 2009. (AN photo)

He noticed his third victim in the market nearby his home. 

While she was walking along the roadside in Yanbu, he followed her in his car until they reached a secluded area. 

He approached her and revealed his desire to have sex with her. 

She refused and tried to run away, but she was caught and stabbed her several times that left blood splattered around. 

He raped her as she was dying, poured acid on her body to disfigure it. 

She was burnt and left it on the road to die on August 10, 2009 (Shaaban 19, 1430).  

The body was later buried in a remote area along Al-Shimal Road near Amlaj town.

He told the police that he was picking housemaids, especially those who are not known to others and he had already identified his fourth target as she has similar specifications.

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The killer was detected by accident.
The nabbing of a network of beggars helped uncover the serial killer's crimes.

A private driver guided the police to the beggary network.

When his son, Marzouq, was arrested for begging, he disclosed of his father not a normal person as he used to beat and torture him and his brothers, and forced them to beg.
The father would burn him with fire.
The suspect allegedly deformed his own children by burning them with fire to make them beggars.

In another statement, his wife had earlier submitted an official complaint that her husband had forced her to beg.

The police started monitoring the man after Marzouq told them that he saw his father brought Asian nationality women to their house, even in the presence of his mother.
And, he even saw his father stabbing an Indonesian housemaid to death on the street.
Marzouq admitted to investigators that he saw the maid run from their old house at Al-Ossaili District in Yanbu after she and his father had an argument.
The woman ran toward Al-Nami Souq and his father, brandishing a knife, chased her, caught her, stabbed her to death.

Police searched the house and among his possessions, police found many forged identities and false identity papers.
In memory cards of the serial killer's mobile phones are pictures of maids, including one of his victims.
The discovery opened the door that leads to past unresolved issues.

******.

Owdhah Ahmad was arrested on the first days of Eidul Fitr in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu.
The man is now being held on charges of murdering three foreign housemaids.
He hunted his victims at local markets and was caught red-handed on September 1, while allegedly attempting to lure another housemaid who would have become his fourth victim.
He was seen luring the housemaid at a commercial market in Yanbu.

He allegedly tried to mislead police by claiming he was trying to recruit the maid to work for him during Ramadhan.
But the woman told police that Owdhah was persuading her to flee from her sponsor's house and have illicit relations with him.
He would always sit in markets to attract victims.

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Owdhah Ahmad had confessed in September while in detention in Al-Balad Police Station in Yanbu, before a panel of judges in Yanbu reenacting of his alleged sexual assault, disfigurement and murder of three Indonesian housemaids in 2007 and 2008 at locations where the incidents took place.

He admitted the rape, and murder before mutilating the housemaids' bodies and burying them.

The man is being held in the general prison after he was examined at Yanbu General Hospital for the state of his mental health.
Preliminary investigations show that the serial killer falsely claimed that he killed a fourth housemaid in July and hid her body in a flood culvert near Yanbu Al-Nakhl but authorities did not find a body there, which led them to believe the mans story about the fourth murder was not true.

But a day later, he denied murdering the maids when brought before a court in Yanbu to authenticate his confession.
Court sources played down the retraction, saying they had enough evidence to convict the man without a confession.

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The killer used to pick housemaids without any legal identification as his victims to avoid detection.
He would subjected them to torture, burns and rape before killing them.
He disfigured the victims and hide them.

Investigators believe that the accused was mentally ill. He might be suffering from psychological disorders, especially as sex and torture were the common denominators in all of his crimes.
The court will take this into consideration during the trial if he is found to be mentally sick.
But psychiatrists are certain that he knew what he was doing when he allegedly committed his crimes.

A relative of the killer said the man was under stress because his wife was mentally ill, the citizenship of his father and uncle had been withdrawn, and one of his children had run away from home.

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Son Can't Kill A Chicken Says Father Of Suspect In Yanbu Serial Killings

The father of the man suspected of being the Yanbu serial killer defended his son and said, “I can’t believe that my son has slaughtered three people because he can’t kill a chicken.”

The father described his son as alert, but a little bit unstable and described him and his grandson, Marzouq, as troublemakers.

“Thy both love to save pictures of any thing on their mobiles,” he said.

He, however, expressed sympathy for to the slaughtered housemaids and said authorities should investigate the crimes and issue a sentence against his son if he was really convicted of committing them. 

“If the investigations prove he is guilty, he deserves to be punished,” the suspect’s father said.

The father said he lived in Khamis Mushayt, southwest of the Kingdom, before moving to Yanbu and had two wives, Umm Owdhah, the suspect’s mother, and a second wife. The man said his Saudi nationality was withdrawn 20 years ago.

He said had traded in goats he brought from Sabya in the Jizan region, but a pelvis fracture forced him to leave the job so he asked his wives to beg for money. He said he would only send his sons out to do so when there was an urgent need to pay for rent and other necessities.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette also interviewed Ahmad Hassan, the Saudi uncle of the suspected serial killer, who was found in the district looking for Marzouq, the suspect’s son. Hassan said he was looking for Marzouq because he is sponsoring him and his brothers.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette joined Hassan in his search, but he did not find any trace of Marzouq. He thought that the landlord kicked the family out of their apartment after he had learned of the crimes their father is suspected of committing.

When the suspect’s wife was contacted, she said she had lied about her husband as having no relatives because she wanted to protect them because many of them were illegal residents. She said this would also explain her commitment to her husband.

“I have no place to go to with my children,” she said.

Her brother said they cannot stay with him.

“We are living in a very miserable condition so we can’t receive my sister and her children,” he said. “I have 10 children of my own, my wife, my sister and her six children.”

The suspect’s wife said his second son, Ahmad, 10, disappeared because of his father’s cruelty and abuse. She said he was last seen during Ramadan, playing in the street with children. Zare’ Bin Awwad Al-Sayyid, district chief of Al-Balad District, where the suspect worked in a shop, said there was nothing strange in the suspect’s behavior that drew his attention and there were no complaints from businesses that had employed the man.

Al-Sayyid has praised the Al-Balad Police, especially its Criminal Research Department, for dismantling a network that forged national identities, which led to finding the man suspected of killing the three foreign housemaids. – Okaz/SG __

Source: Saudi Gazette - September 18, 2011

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Despite the difficult living conditions being experienced by the suspected serial killer’s brother-in-law, Ahmad Hassan offered his house to his sister and her six children after their landlord expelled them from their home. The woman and her children had been homeless for days.
The brother said he would ask the charitable society in Yanbu to secure an appropriate house for his sister and her children and urged authorities to help them, regardless of her husband’s case.
The suspected serial killer’s second son, Ahmad, is still missing. There have been reports in the last few days that he was seen roaming on the streets near Al-Shawam Market in Yanbu.
Other reports indicate that Ahmad is staying with relatives in Makkah who have reformed his attitude and convinced him to stop stealing.
Meanwhile, an official from the committee that sponsors prisoners, ex-convicts and their families told Arab News that the committee would consider extending financial support to Ahmad’s wife and children if he is convicted. Circumstances of the family will be looked into for care and support providence, after a final verdict is passed. All needy inmates and ex-prisoners and their families are to be extended with support, regardless of their nationalities, nor the nature of their crimes, under the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

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Owdhah Ahmad was released from a Yanbu prison in 2007 after serving a jail term for harassment and acid attacks on his sons.
The man, who has four sons and two daughters, had been selling fruit and vegetables for a living.

The 45-year old Yemeni national has been living in Yanbu illegally for several years.

Meanwhile, Madinah police had arrested six relatives of the alleged Yanbu housemaids’ serial killer, who were allegedly involved in forging identity cards and impersonating Saudi nationals.
Those being held are said to be of Arab origin.
All documents of the arrested persons have been seized and their involvement in the killing of the housemaids are yet to be proven.

The Gallow Man's Story Of Fandey, Not Mona

esavan A. Arumugam, despite his humble and polite demeanour, is a man who can strike fear as he was an executioner who spent the first month of his working career on attachment in Pudu Prison.

He remembers the demolished Pudu Prison and could recall the place as it was there, he both witnessed and carried out his first execution. He had performed 4 executions in Pudu before the department started to carry out the sentence in Kajang Prison.

According to The Star, his task was to handcuff the prisoner, place a hood over him, escort the condemned from their cell to the execution chamber, where their legs would be tied and the noose placed over their neck.
Basically, he did everything except pulling the lever to release the trap door.

There was a team involved, and pulling the lever was another man's job.
The gallows in Pudu Prison were very old as the trapdoor worked with a pulley system and the creaking made it all seem unreal and scary.

The hangings at Pudu Prison, as  Kesavan A. Arumugam remembers, were eerie affairs. “The corridors were narrow and the lighting was dim, adding to the eeriness of the execution. There was a chill about the place.”

The execution chamber at the new Kajang prison is much brighter, works on a hydraulic system which is quieter and more efficient.

Kesavan has no regrets about carrying out the job of taking a human life. He believes what he did is for the benefit of the nation as those people who were executed had already exhausted all avenues of law, and he only did the final bit.
Since he was able to interact with the prisoners, he learnt what they had done and he did not feel bad.

Yes, the career is not for the faint hearted, as he does feel tense after each execution carried out.
Usually he would avoid people for a few days , and an adjustment of the mind was needed for him to feel better.

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He has his own scary tale to tell, involving Mohd Affandi Abdul Rahman, who, along with his famous witch craft bomoh wife Mona Fandey, had been sentenced to death for the murder of Batu Talam state assemblyman Datuk Mazlan Idris.

Affandi, he says, had asked him to bring him a rose bud.

When eventually he did bring the rose bud, Affandi put it on his palm and recited a few words. And the rosebud flew round and round - He knew it is unbelievable but he saw it.

Then, Affandi asked for a bottle of water, tore the rosebud into bits, put it in the bottle and gave it to him as a magic potion.

“However, I did not want anything to do with that. And I left the bottle at the officer’s area,” he says.

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Who is Mona Fandey?

Mona Fandey : Wikipedia

Maznah Ismail, born in 1956, as a pop singer, although it was only short-lived.

It was during this time she adopted the stage name "Mona Fandey" to boost her popularity.

Her career did not really take off, but she still managed to come up with one self-sponsored album entitled Diana and made a few television appearances. She was also a water ballet dancer during her youth.

Mona Fandey became more popular after the murder case of Batu Talam state assemblyman than she had been when she was still a pop singer. She was executed on November 2, 2001 at the age of 45, after being convicted of the murder of a politician, Datuk Mazlan Idris, in 1993.

After leaving the music business, she became involved in spiritual witchcraft activities and was known to be a bomoh, a local shaman, and began offering her services to clients, mostly from the upper-class society. She claimed to have provided politician clients with a variety of charms and talismans.

It was reported that Datuk Mazlan Idris, a state assemblyman for the constituency of Batu Talam, Pahang, wanted to boost his political career and sought the services of Mona for assistance.
The US educated Mazlan was an ambitious politician from the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party.

At that time, Mona worked with her husband Mohamad Nor Affandi Abdul Rahman, 44, and their assistant Juraimi Hassan, 31.
Mona and her husband promised to help Mazlan by giving him a talisman consisting of a cane and sbatmi headgear, which was supposedly owned by former Indonesian President Sukarno. The politician would be "invincible" if he held the talisman in return of RM2.5 million.
The couple was paid RM500,000 as deposit, and 10 land titles as surety for the remaining RM2 million by Mazlan.

Mazlan was reported missing on July 2, 1993 after withdrawing RM300,000 from a bank.

An appointment was soon made for cleansing rituals to be performed at Mona's house.
Mazlan was told to lie on the floor face up while Mona placed flowers on him. She then told Mazlan to close his eyes and wait for the money to "fall from the sky".

Juraimi, then using an axe, chopped Mazlan's head off. They also dismembered and partially skinned Mazlan's body. His body was found in 18 parts buried in a storeroom near Mona's house in Pahang.
It was alleged that the murder occurred between 10pm and 12 midnight on July 18, 1993.

After the murder, Mona was reported to have been on a shopping spree where she bought a Mercedes-Benz and had a facelift.

On July 22, 1993, police found Mazlan's body.
Mona, her husband, and Juraimi were arrested and a highly publicized trial began. They were tried in Temerloh High Court in Pahang by a 7-person jury (trial by jury was abolished from January 1, 1995).

Throughout the trial, Mona exhibited strange behaviour, appearing cheerful, constantly smiling and posing for press photographers. She dressed extravagantly with bright and colorful designs on her dress and remarked, "looks like I have many fans".
The High Court found all 3 of them guilty and sentenced them to death by hanging.

Mona and the others filed appeals to the Federal Court and in 1999 the court dismissed their appeals and upheld the death sentence.

Finally, the 3 convicts sought to obtain a pardon or clemency from the Pardons Board of Pahang, their final chance redemption. However, the board refused to give clemency.

Mona, Affandy, and Juraimi were finally hanged on November 2, 2001 at Kajang Prison. It was also reported that during Mona's execution, she uttered the words "aku takkan mati", or "I will never die", still calm and smiling.
There was wide local and even international media coverage and plenty of public interest.

Anti-death penalty movements including Amnesty International voiced their opposition to the execution of the trio.

Will the  politician's nephew  work with the movement?