Towards Lesser Crime In JB (14)

Rape (3)

A 24-year-old single mother was in a car with her boyfriend when a man armed with a knife opened the car door at a traffic light junction at about 2.25am on Monday, May 16.

The man then pointed the knife at the boyfriend and ordered him to drive the car to a house in Teluk Jawa, Pasir Gudang, while an accomplice followed on a motorcycle.
Upon arriving at a house there, the suspects tied the boyfriend before raping the woman.
They also robbed them of cash and their mobile phones.

Upon tip-off, police arrested both suspects at a house along Jalan Bayan in Seri Alam, within nine hours after the rape in a new housing project in Teluk Jawa.
One of them, aged 25, has eight previous records for burglary, theft and assault.

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Jailed – Drunk Labourer Who Raped Woman 
By FARIK ZOLKEPLI 

JOHOR BARU: A 32-year-old labourer who admitted that he was drunk when he raped a woman on Aug 5 was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and seven strokes of the rotan.
K. Paramasivan pleaded guilty to raping the 24-year-old woman at a booth in JP Perdana at about 8pm.

Sex fiend: Paramasivan being led away after he was jailed for rape.
 

The facts of the case stated that he had earlier abducted the victim and taken her to the booth.
He punched and slapped the victim repeatedly in the face and other parts of her body before raping her.
However, a police patrol unit managed to rescue the victim and arrest him following a scuffle.
In mitigation, Paramasivan said he had a family to support.
“I was drunk and I deeply regret my actions,” he said.
DPP Jasmee Hameeza Jaafat asked Sessions Court judge Salawati Djam­bari to mete the maximum sentence due to the seriousness of the offence and the victim’s injuries.
“The accused also has previous convictions for robberies as well as rape,” he said.
Meanwhile, Paramasivan was also charged with stealing the victim’s two mobile phones and a gold necklace while causing hurt.
That case has been fixed for mention on Sept 17.

Source: The Star - Wednesday, August 18, 2010

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Are We Too Lenient With Rapists At Times?

THE Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law defines RAPE as ‘unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent because of mental illness, mental deficiency, intoxication, unconsciousness, or deception — see also STATUTORY RAPE.’Note: The common-law crime of rape involved a man having carnal knowledge of a woman not his wife through force and against her will.
Even without referring to the dictionary, we all know what rape is about. But do we really know or understand what rape victims have to go through? The reality is that unless we are the victims or one of our loved ones is unfortunate enough to fall prey to such a violent act, we will not be able to comprehend the horror and trauma of rape. Victims are scarred for life.
I was reading an article about the anti-rape legislation and that induced me to look up the dictionary for the finer definition of this heinous crime.
It’s interesting to learn that by and large, we seem to be sending the wrong signals about rape, beginning with the laws that let off too easily those who commit such a crime to an attitude that it is all right for men to be aggressive while women must suffer in silence.
Women’s groups in the country have claimed that rape is one issue this country has not dealt with properly and I agree with them.
A report this week in a national daily struck me. In December 2008, a man who raped his eight-year-old daughter was sentenced by the Sessions Court in Muar, to 25 years jail and 15 strokes of the rotan. This sentence was later affirmed by the High Court.
Yet last Monday (March 22), the Court of Appeal commuted the convicted felon’s punishment by six years jail and five strokes of the rotan. Several questions come to mind with this new judgement.
Why was this evil perpetrator’s sentence reduced? Who thought his sentence was too harsh? But what about the life sentence on the little girl? Have the judges contemplated this at all? Who knows the anguish and who can measure the mental and physical scars that will torment the poor girl for the rest of her life?
The layman in us will not be able to understand what was in the minds of the judges when they shortened the sentence on appeal. Have they not seen the mixed messages coming out of this? It sets a poor example and a precedent for the disturbed and evil men who feel they can violate and abuse the rights of children who are too young to defend themselves.
With a clearer picture and understanding of the issue at hand, I think we must all give our undivided support to women’s groups who have espoused legislative changes and greater justice for rape victims.
The All Women’s Action Society (Awam) has been asking for the abolition of the stipulation on corroborative evidence such as physical injuries in rape cases for a long time. It also wants compensation for rape survivors.
Awam and other women’s groups say whatever is lacking in the law is but a reflection of the flawed societal attitudes regarding rape, its perpetrators and their victims. So far, such legislation has been long wanting.
According to Awam, it appears that there is high tolerance for men who go around bragging about their sexual prowess, which they equate with being ‘real men’.
“Masculinity allows aggression, which leads to rape. There is a thin line between the two,’’ the society adds.
Women’s Aid Organisation executive director Ivy Josiah has also been quoted as saying that ‘in cases of violence against women, be it in the form of rape, physical abuse or sexual harassment, women are told to be silent’.
But Josiah says this does not stop people from looking with contempt at a woman who has been raped ‘’because losing her virginity carries a social stigma’’. These double standards largely explain the prevailing insensitivity of even authorities and health workers toward rape victims.
It must be made clear to all that rape cases have been on the rise in the country and the crime has reached a stage where it has frighteningly become just an everyday, common affair.
Sarawak is also not spared of this ‘scourge’. Police statistics show that the number of statutory rape cases in the state has been on the increase. The police report is too lengthy to go into this column but suffice to say, the statistics are alarming. The reported cases run in several thousands for the whole country.
Some cases can be real violent too and victims were even murdered. There was a recent report of a woman being gang-raped and then set on fire. Then, a 15-year-old ethnic Indian student was raped and murdered, prompting a bitter public outcry. A woman and her daughter were also raped by her 41-year-old son-in-law and a Dutch tourist was gang-raped at a rubber estate. These cases took place in Kuala Lumpur.
Then in Kuching, remember the 14-year-old schoolgirl who was raped at the overhead bridge in Petra Jaya on a busy afternoon in May 2009? In the same week, a 12-year-old girl was taken from her school to a jungle in Samariang and raped. And surely, we have not forgotten the long running saga of the rape of Penan girls.
These are only the reported cases. What about those which were unreported, either for reasons of shame or sheer ignorance?
And part of the reason for under-reporting lies in legislation. Malaysian legal advocates have long had problems with the laws pertaining to rapists and other sexual offenders. They point out that the sentences meted out to those found guilty are too light.
Also, there is the question of definition. Under Malaysian law, rape occurs only when a man forcefully penetrates a woman’s sexual organ with his penis. Using another object such as bottle or a stick, therefore, does not constitute rape.
Yes, the dictionary clearly defines rape — it is torture at its worst! It is such a horrifying, heinous crime and it is high time that we have new legislation that truly punish perpetrators with the same degree of human suffering that they have inflicted on their victims.
No, this is not vengeance. This is justice!

Source: The Borneo Post - Saturday, March 27, 2010

Towards Lesser Crime In JB (13)

Rape (2)

A semi-paralysed Felda settler Romle Ariffin, 56, had pleaded guilty to offence he committed at his house in Felda Inas, Kulaijaya, on several occasions, between March 14 and April 4.

The wheelchair-bound man was sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane for raping his 15-year-old teenage daughter several times while tending to him.
The girl had been looking after him.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jasmee Hameeza Jaafar prosecuted while the accused was not represented.

In passing judgment on April 19, 2011, the Johor Bahru Sessions Court judge Nu’aman Mahmud Zuhudi noted that the accused took advantage on his position and his own flesh and blood to satisfy his sexual urges.

Romle, who was charged under Section 376B of the Penal Code, should have protected his daughter instead of using her to fulfil his lust.

******

Another father, a 26-year-old special school teacher in Pagoh was charged at the Sessions Court last October.

He was charged with raping his 4-year-old stepdaughter in Taman Pagoh Jaya, Johor, at 9pm on September  22.

The teacher was then taken to the magistrate's court where he was charged with assaulting his 28-year old wife by suffocating, slapping and punching her in the same house at 3am on March 25.

Deputy public prosecutor Ratinah Abu Bakar prosecuted while counsel Maniam K. Marappan represented the accused.

****** 

 Muar Rapist Dad Gets 25 Years' Jail



An odd-job worker in Muar, Johor was found guilty of raping his daughter, then 17, since 2007.

The sessions court has imposed a 25-year jail term and 10 strokes for each offence and ordered the sentences to run concurrently from the date of arrest on Jan 21 this year.

He was found guilty of raping his daughter at a house in Lenga at 8am in 2007, at another house in Pagoh between midnight and 4am in August last year and at the same house at 4am in October last year.

Deputy public prosecutor Zairani Tugiran urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on the father of three.

The court was earlier told that the victim had stayed at a boarding school but when she returned home, she was raped when her mother was at work in a factory or while she was asleep.

The court was also told the girl was warded in Muar Hospital for psychiatric observation because of depression.

Source: The Star - November 30, 2010
 

Towards Lesser Crime In JB (12)

Rape

Four men, S. Aramagam, 30, M. Viji Kumar, 29, B. Devandran, 22 and Steven Lim Beng Chuan, 21, on Friday 13, 2011, received a jail term totalling 64 years.

They were also ordered to be collectively caned 52 times for robbing a couple of more than RM15,000, including some electrical items.

Worst still, they raped the wife at their home in Kangkar Pulai, Johor Bahru, at between 6am and 7am on February 28 last year.

Except Viji Kumar, the others admitted to also raping the 27-year-old wife after tying up her husband.

Aramagam also forced the woman to perform oral sex on him.

Sessions Court Judge Zambri Bakar sentenced Aramagam to 20 years' jail and ordered him to be given 16 strokes of the cane.

Steven Lim and Devendran were each sentenced to 18 years' jail and ordered to be given 14 strokes of the rotan for their double crimes - robbery and rape.

Viji Kumar, the only person who did not commit the rape, was sentenced to 10 years' jail and ordered to be caned eight times.

Each of the four men, however, will only serve 10 years in prison as the judge ordered the jail sentences to run concurrently from the date of their arrest.
DPP Norashikin Ibrahim prosecuted the case while all the accused were not represented.

The men were seen staring downward in a sombre mood before Judge Zambri Bakar.

But after the judge stepped down and left the courtroom, the four men switched to jovial mode and started to joke and laugh among themselves.
They could still laugh and joke among themselves despite the heavy sentences passed on them.

Earlier, they had pleaded for leniency after pleading guilty to a total of seven charges against them.

Camera shy: Two of the four robbers being led out of the Johor Bahru court. 

Photo: The Star
 

The four men had refused to leave the court room, saying they did not want to be caught on camera by press photographers waiting outside the court.

"What are they going to do with my picture? Are they going to post it up?" one of them was heard saying in Tamil, quoting from The Star.

A court policeman later led them out through a back entrance.

According to the facts of the case, the husband had woken up and was about to perform his prayers when he noticed intruders were inside his double-storey house.

The intruders had entered through an unlocked window at the back of the house.

They grabbed some knives from the kitchen and threatened the husband.
One of the men had threatened him with a knife.

The husband tried to put up a fight, but was beaten up.
Another man repeatedly hit him with a golf club.
They then tied up the victim with his wife's clothes.

They then left him in one room and took his daughter and his wife to another room upstairs.

The woman, who study at a local university, pleaded to them to release her.

But they started beating her and threatened to kill.

The robbers took turns to rape her.

The husband, in his 20s, then rushed the woman to the hospital.

After the gang rape of the Kangkar Pulai housewife on February 28 last year, 22 men were rounded up in connection with the rape and robbery.

One of the detainees was found to be the mastermind behind the crime.

He was then detained by a special task force led by Johor CID chief Senior Asst Comm II Datuk Amer Awal.

******

Three months later in June, police launched massive hunt for four notorious Indonesian robbers.

They not only took away cash and valuables during a house break-in, but they also raped another housewife, the owner’s 50-year-old wife in full view of the man and his teenage daughter.

Ledang OCPD Supt Harun Idris earlier said police had rounded up 22 illegal immigrants to ascertain the whereabout of suspects.

The robbers broke into the house in Kampung Sengkang near Bukit Gambir in Johor at about 3.30am.

Armed with parang, they forced themselves into the house while the couple and four of their children were asleep.

They tied them before ransacking and taking RM1,300 and jewellery worth about RM5,000.

One of the robbers then decided to force himself upon the wife, in full view of the husband and their 13-year old daughter.

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

******

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.

******

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.

******

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.

******

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.

******

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

******

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

******

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.

Towards Lesser Crime In JB

Crime in Johor Bahru have reach new highs in my personal view.Especially house break ins, snatch thieves and robberies. They, the criminals are now very bold and very well equipped. They commit crimes even at broad daylight!It is one thing to lose valuables but the emotional trauma? Wouldn't one fear for one's belongings, love ones or one's own well being?  I have known cases around me and myself included have fall victims of these crimes.But where does one go to next? How does one help to inform the right people to take steps to help prevent crime and not wait till its too late. People seem to turn away or brush off matters like these until it happens to someone close or some important person. It is truly very very sad.. Crime prevention is not political, its not racial. There is no monetary gains nor is it meant to gain popularity it is about (a)the community's welfare.There are poorly or not lighted back lanes, deserted or abandon houses there must be steps taken to monitor these areas or upgrade them.Patrols during the day, patrols into back lanes whether they are pitch dark or lighted. There is no blaming of anybody or departments or what have you. Its just making/taking steps to prevent crime. A very simple issue.I personally don't even know if writing in this blog will help me establish or get the message out to the right people but least I have tried.

This is a blog written by Rencetan on May 1 2009, in The Star daily.
 

The recent parang incident in Johor prompted me to blog again about crime in JB.
A gang of three armed robbers chopped off the left arm of 28-year old Wang Kai Yin, a car repairman in Kulai, Johor Bahru because they only managed to get RM300 cash and a mobile phone from the victim.
Out of anger, one of the three men on two motorcycles cut off his arm when told he had no more money after surrendering his wallet.

****** 

Earlier, I had blogged about robbers in Taman Majidee using 19-year old Cheng Jun Wei as human shield when pursued by a security guard.
She suffered head injuries and subsequently passed away two days later.

A month later, a man allegedly lost more than RM5,000 to a snatch thief at a money changer shop in Taman Majidee.
To aggravate matter, he was shot twice at his waist during an argument with a security guard.

******

In January last year, at The Store in Taman Sentosa JB, 31-year old Singaporean Ms Joanne Tan, was dragged about 10 metre for refusing to let go her handbag.
She was slashed on the left arm.
After two snatch thieves gave up on her, a car ran over her feet.

For readers information, all these place are less than ten-minute ride from where I stay.

****** 

Last May, the police target to reduce Johor crime index by at least 30% in 2010, especially in the Iskandar area, JB South.
And in the first nine months of 2010, police crime index was down by 24.17% or 5,369 cases.

A year earlier, there were 22,211 cases which included property and violent crimes.
I sincerely hope that the 30% target had thus been achieved.

Two weeks before the announcement was made, even JB South OCPD Asst Comm Zainuddin Yaakob, home alone, had a dawn shock when he was tied up and robbed at knife point in his own house a year earlier.
The suspects, all believed to be Indonesians ransacked his home before fleeing.

Two weeks later, Huzaimah Yahya, wife of Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin political secretary,
Syahrin Md Jamaluddin, was tied up during robbery, car stolen, house ransacked, fridge, pots and pans raided in Kampung Sinaran Baru, Skudai around 2am.
This is the second break-in for them after two years.

******

Then in September 2009, a 29-year old SBS 160 bus captain was robbed and slashed with a parang on his upper hands when 2 men in their 30s, posed as passengers, demanded his wallet containing RM260 and S$40 before fleeing.
He was treated in a hospital in JB and later transferred to National University Hospital in Singapore to undergo surgery and receiving treatment for the deep gash on his left wrist that cause bone fracture.

The men had initially wielded their weapon on a middle aged Chinese woman trying to rob her.
She then shouted for help which drew the bus captain's attention and stopped the bus while on its way to Malaysia Customs Checkpoint.
When the bus captain requested the two men to stop their doings, that was when the incident started.
The three passengers, however, were not injured.

******

Although this parang incident on a Singapore boy happened way back in 2005, but the scar will be visible for a very long time.
The trauma and memory will stay for a very much longer time.

But I feel and sympathise greatly for this Kangkar Pulai family:

Burglars broke into a house in Kangkar Pulai here early Sunday and gang-raped a housewife after tying up her family.

The incident occurred at about 6am when the husband, who woke up to perform his prayers, discovered at least eight men inside his double-storey house.

The intruders, who had entered through an unlocked window at the back of the house, grabbed some knives from the kitchen and threatened the husband before waking up his wife and baby.

While the husband, in his 20s, was being bound, at least six of the robbers took the wife upstairs .

The woman, who is also in her 20s and studying at a local university, pleaded to them to release her. But they started beating her and threatened to kill. The robbers took turns to rape her.

The husband, who tried to put up a fight, was beaten up.

The robbers fled with some cash and electrical items while the husband rushed his wife to the hospital where a police report was lodged.

They not only had their house broken into, but the wife was gang raped too.

Can the traumatic experience be easily forgotten?
Their nerves be calmed?
How courageous may the couple be to overcome their trauma and fear?
How determined they may be, can they just move on with life?
Adjusting themselves, blending normally with society?
It's unnerving even to read the dreaded news...

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Today, glad to say, situation has indeed improve.

Prior to this, I am not exaggerating things up, but I had seen a person being kidnapped along Jalan Tebrau, house break-in in Kampung Melayu and several cases of pickpocketing at the old immigration and the current Kotaraya Bus Terminal.
Except for snatch theft at Taman Suria, all incidents happened in crowded areas in broad daylight.

Burglary, house-breaking and illegal trespassing used to be a common occurrence in my neighbourhood too.
When a house was entered into illegally and properties looted, it's no more a surprise news.

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My heavily pregnant neighbour on motorbike had her bag with RM800 and important documents inside, taken by biker next to her at a busy morning traffic stop at Tampoi. 
The husband was visibly shaken as he related his wife's nightmare.

She was to submit all documents relating to her maternity leave before being warded.
Still, they said, luck was with them as the incident happened when the traffic light was red.
If not, things can happen as that splashed aplenty in papers and prints.

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A friend in Kempas saw a lorry parked in-front of her Singaporean neighbour's house, unlock the gate, and never seen before men loading all furnitures onto the big vehicle.

Everything happened under her nose, she was watching them a along, knew no familiar faces.
Only after the lorry left, then she realised that her neighbour's house had been trespassed, looted off of all belongings.

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A friend who was shopping at Holiday Plaza with her family had their car driven away.
When CCTV was shown, they were surprised to see that barrier was lifted when it was supposed to be lifted with the ticket which they had in hand.

A senior parking attendant friend can just look when her boys go around with bottles and steel petrol from unsuspecting motorbikes they are supposed to look after at big shopping centres.
Although she pity the bike owners, what can she, alone, do against the boys.

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Two home alone grandmothers I used to visit in Kampung Melayu and Tiram were asked to open their gates.
The one in Kampung Melayu in her 80s, was twice had her house swiped out of handphones, laptops and other electronic valuables.

Luckily the one in Tiram, in her late 50s, asked the 'aggressive delivery man' to leave 'whatever parcel' he was to deliver, outside the gate as she had seen him riding his motorbike around the new housing estate few days earlier before the delivery incident.

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I was at a local hospital waiting for someone for his physiotherapy session when a man in his early 30s share his story.
He accidentally knocked at a closely parked car while reversing his, at a carpark in Pandan Wholesale Market.
He waited for the owner, apologising for the deed, but the owner brushed the incident off.

It was not far from the market when he was signalled to move aside.

Then, the car owner with his friend attacked him with parang at the busy roadside with workers returning home in early evening. 
He shielded his face with his arms and later found himself landed in hospital.

Beside both arms with deep wounds, all fingers on his left arm are very badly fractured fingers and needed support.
Hence, his daily therapy session.

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None of what I saw above, I read in prints and none of the heinous acts befell on others that were told by the victims themselves were ever reported.
Maybe, it will make the perpetrators become more braver and bolder?

There are many other incidents too, retold by relatives, neighbours and friends but it's not first hand experience for me to share.
Many online forumers share their bad experiences too.

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With very big money going to be spent and things are now looking promising, as what I saw and heard was all before 2010, I hope Syfc, A True Johorean, who poured his / her  heart in the Citizen Blog has finally decided to return home.

Though working and residing in singapore, my heart is still very much in JB as a true born johorean hailing from JB. In fact, i kept most of my savings in ringgit instead of singapore dollar for I aimed to returned to JB for good one day.

However, with the current crime rate in JB, it is astounding that much talk had been said but "visible" actions were as good as none. Though directive from PM is clear Ie. corruption free and serve the public, the "ground" level public servants aren't acting exactly as directed.

It is true that we see more police on bikes and cars patrolling the road but 99% of the time they are looking out for petty traffic offences or checking out individuals in decent family sedans instead of stopping over those illegally modified, darkly tinted cars with extremely loud and huge exhaust.

In that we do see police responding to directive from above to patrol the streets but the actions per se are not addressing the issue. It is like a child staring at a book for hours without reading and said he/she had studied. It serves no purpose.

I return to JB every weekend and I have defended JB very strongly infront of my singaporeans colleagues or friends that questioned the safety issues in JB. I often told them that if it is that unsafe, how come we Johoreans are still very much alive and kicking. But with the current crime rate, I do not think I am able to stay by JB defence anymore.

Lets face it, there are "industries" in JB that attracts the wrong people from elsewhere of the country relocating to JB. These "industries" are open secret to all, from selling of pirated dvds/vcds to ktvs to the flesh trade. These are illegal by law and also i believe illegal by islamic laws. So why are they flourishing in JB?

In KL, you see successful individuals either businessmen, professionals or corporate workers driving luxury cars like BMW etc. In JB, take a look around you and you will often notice a young man in early twenties, skinny with blonde streaks of hair, heavily tattooed, driving and owning a new BMW 5 series and suprisingly smoking in it with the cigarrette ash being thrown onto the floor board of the new BMW 5 series. Ever question how can these young man in their twenties afford such luxury? And the successful JB businessmen, professionals and/or corporate workers will most likely be spotted in a humble Japanese made cars for they fear being robbed (and sometimes life threatening) if they were to own and drive a BMW or Mercedez Benz.

What has become of JB? Is this current situation in JB congruent to the Southern Economic Region plan?

As a true Johorean at heart, I really wish JB will take off from the SER and be a worthy competitor to our neighbours who often have laughed off our "Malaysia Boleh" motto. I, for one, truely believes that "Kita memang Boleh"!

By syfc, 11-May-2007