On 13 September 2019, the country was shocked by the discovery of skeletal remains of a baby at Kg Salambigar. The following day, it was reported that a married couple has been arrested in connection to the discovery and that the victim was a 5 months old baby girl. [Case Ongoing]. As bizarre as it may sound, this is not the first time in the country that innocent babies / toddlers became victims of senseless violence or gross negligence that led to deaths, and certainly not the worst so far. These coward monsters have been walking among us for quite some time now, with the first known case happening as early as 1999. Warning: The worst case will make you sick to the stomach.

Here are some of the more recent cases:

Date: 26 August 2019
Victim: 1 year 4 month old girl
Crime Location: RPN Kg Lambak Kanan
Cause of Death: Injuries due to physical abuse (slapped, bitten, pinched, etc).
How the crime was uncovered: Alerted by medics
Person(s) Responsible: The kid’s parents (39 year old father and 36 year old mother), local, both on meth.
Sentence: 4 years imprisonment for the mother while the husband is yet to be sentenced.

Date: 20 December 2018
Victim: 2 year old boy
Crime Location: Lumut
Cause of Death: Injuries due to physical abuse
Person(s) Responsible: 34 year old boyfriend of the boy’s mother, uniformed personnel, local

Date: 17 August 2016
Victim: 3 year old girl
Crime Location: Perpindahan Mentiri
Cause of Death: Multiple internal injuries due to physical abuse – thrown, punched, slapped, kicked
How the crime was uncovered: Alerted by medics
Person(s) Responsible: The girl’s 29 year old uncle, local
Sentence: 13 years imprisonment, 8 strokes of the cane

Date: 13 September 2013
Victim: 3 year old girl
Crime Location: Everywhere, including in the car. Body was disposed in the bushes by the roadside at Ulu Kuala Balai
Cause of Death: Multiple injuries due to physical abuse.
Person(s) Responsible: The girl’s “foster” parents. They acquired the girl by conning the kid’s biological parents.
Sentence: 16 years imprisonment, 10 strokes of the cane for the man; 8 years imprisonment for the woman

Looking at the ages of the victims, they were 3 year olds and below. These are the period where they are at the mercy of their guardians. Had they gotten the chance to attend pre-school, their teachers would have noticed telltale signs of physical abuse at home, and the deaths could have been prevented.

It was reported that the 5 months old baby girl whose skeletal remains were recently discovered in Kg Salambigar was killed sometimes in May 2018. It is heartbreaking that no one looked for her, no one missed her. Her grandparents, uncles, aunties, perhaps. At least, someone other than her parents must have known about her existence and thus would have noticed about her disappearance. But, there was none. Really sad…

Family members of the perpetrators could be biased and prone to be in denial and turn a blind eye on signs of physical abuse to the child. This is where family friends and neighbours can step up to the plate. They can quickly report their suspicions to the police or the Family Services helpline number. But, how many of the public are well aware of this social responsibility and know what numbers to call? With the clearly increasing number of cases, more need be done to increase the public awareness.

Many, if not all of the perpetrators are within the 20-40 years age bracket. What went wrong? Why are they so messed up? What could explain their short fuses and acting out their rage in violence on the helpless infants. Drugs can be one of the explanation for the aggressive behaviours. In two of the recent cases mentioned above, it was alleged that the perpetrators were using drugs. Go figure.

Mental disorder or depression can also explain the lack of judgement. Unlike drugs abuse, the presence of mental disorder can’t be identified through blood or urine tests.  No one can say that they don’t have it without undergoing proper mental evaluation. A seemingly okay person can mask a mental disorder which can unravel into violence anytime. This can become easily triggered if combined with financial hardship, low self esteem, and other screw ups in the person’s life.

This brings me to the worst ever infanticide case in the country. Where do I even begin… Caught Off Gut

27 March 2000 might have started like other ordinary Mondays for the Lexus manager of Gadong’s NBT showroom, until she discovered five brand new cars – 2 from inside the showroom, the other 3 parked outside (1xLexus LS400, 3xLexus IS200, 1xToyota Hilux) were missing (worth about half a million) when she came in that morning. There was no sign of forced entry. From this, police immediately established that the crime could have involved someone from the inside. Otherwise, how else would the thieves know that the establishment has no security guard, no alarm system installed and that it only has surveillance camera in the showroom which was only functional during office hours. The cars also couldn’t possibly be driven away without their keys which the thieves seemed to already have in their possession.

This thing happened at a time when vehicle thefts were getting more rampant in the country. The stolen cars were usually quickly transported across the border where they will be broken down to parts. But this was the first time that new cars were targeted and I don’t believe that the new cars were stolen for their parts. Brunei being so small, with nowhere to hide such big-sized loot, raised the question as to what the thieves were planning to do with the 6 new cars or whether they have actually thought about what they would do with them. It sounded more like a half-cooked plot executed badly.

The most likely intention would be to make some bucks by selling the cars to a syndicate. However, to do this, the thieves must have connection with transnational stolen car syndicate. There is certainly a good market for stolen luxury cars in the region, in Myanmar and Cambodia for example, and the syndicate is very proficient in discreetly transporting the stolen cars across national boundaries to wherever their intended destinations would be.

One scenario for the fate of the cars stolen in Brunei would be that they are smuggled  overland into East Malaysia then into West Kalimantan, then from there they will be transferred into containers at the Pontianak Port for shipping towards the route to their eventual destinations where their “customers” await. Thailand is a known transit point for stolen cars where from there they are smuggled overland to Cambodia, Laos, all the way up to Myanmar. If the stolen cars reached Peninsular Malaysia, they can also be transported across to a Singapore port then shipped off to Australia and New Zealand. The possibility is endless. Interestingly, from my research (google search), the Toyota Hilux is among the top commonly stolen vehicles in Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. The stolen Hiluxs have even made their way to the hands of ISIS in the Middle East. Wow!

It was later revealed that the theft was a teamwork of 5 locals – 4 in their 30s (thieves A, B, C and D) and one 49 year old (thief E) – and one Indonesian man (thief F). Thief E is the manager of a security firm who is a retired military officer, although he was only implicated for assisting to conceal the stolen vehicles, after-the-fact. Two of them (Thieves C and D) are his employees, a maintenance man and a driver of the security firm. Thief C is an ex police officer. Thief A, alleged to be the mastermind, is a military officer who managed to evade capture for almost a month after the theft. Thief F was never apprehended as he quickly left the country after the incident. Like Thief E, Thief B is also a retired military personnel and was only implicated for assisting to conceal the stolen vehicles.

Of the Lexus cars being already sold in the country at that time, only 4 of them were blue and the Lexus Sales Representative knew exactly who the 4 buyers were and their respective plate numbers. Im sure the thieves were ignorant about this fact given that Thief C was later spotted driving the stolen blue Lexus by the Lexus Sales Representative (What are the odds??). This led to his arrest on 29 March 2000. It didn’t take quite a while for Thief C to spill the beans leading to the rest falling like dominoes.

By 30 March 2000, all the stolen vehicles were recovered. 3 of the Lexus were recovered at Thief A’s house. Thief B was later acquitted of the charges against him and was set free. Testimonies at the trial also revealed that Thief F (who was never arrested) acted as “lookout” during the crime and that Thief A had the keys to the cars and the showroom sliding door (Interesting..). It was also revealed (or alleged, rather) that two NBT officials were complicit in the carnapping.

In August 2000, thieves A, C, D and E were all found guilty of their respective charges. Thief A was given a sentence of 18 months in jail. Thieves C and D were each sentenced to four years imprisonment and one stroke of the rattan (seriously? just one stroke?). Thief E was given a sentence of 6 months in jail.

The lack of thoughtfulness to at least stage a forced break-in indicated how novice they were as thieves and to hide the stolen cars at your own home is beyond belief. Their ignorance about “inside crime 101” led to their arrests hardly a week after the theft. It was really an anti-climax to what seemed set to be the most daring carnapping act in the country.