I have been observing, monitoring, studying, researching on crimes in Brunei for years now. A number of times, I would encounter accounts on crime cases that made me fall off my chair, especially ones that are bizarre and unheard of or those that happen in the country for the first time. Well, this case is one of them, that made my jaw dropped to the floor (still is). Despite nearly two weeks now after the headline came out, I still can’t get over how bizarre and outrageous it is. The wider public may be oblivious, but to me, there are so many things off about this, on so many levels.

Do a google search on “mengaku bersalah kerana bergaduh” you will just find articles about this particular case. Why? Because in my years of looking at crime in the country, I have never come across somebody being charged in court for fighting. Oh wait….maybe there have…..no, that was during my secondary school years when two boys were called to see the discipline teacher and got suspended for throwing punches at each other.

Well…yeah, fighting could be the cause of a criminal offence, such as [a] Section 159 – Affray (When 2 or more person by fighting in a public place disturb the public peace, they are said to “commit an affray”), punishable with imprisonment and with fine. [b] Section 503 – Criminal Intimidation, punishable with imprisonment, or with fine, or with both. [c] Section 506 – Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, punishable with imprisonment and with fine. Fighting could also lead to murder – causing bodily injury leading to death. But, people don’t get in legal trouble for just fighting.

Ok, for the sake of argument, lets just say that there is a charge of fighting, and a defendant is pleading guilty of fighting – wouldn’t that mean that the person he was fighting with should also be charged with fighting and guilty of fighting too? Despite the word fighting appearing five times in a sentence, this is a valid rhetorical question. 

We don’t need to be a genius to know that the act of fighting involves exchanging physical or verbal blows, and in the era of internet and social media, would also include exchanging mean online comments. See there, the keyword is “exchanging”. In the case of this Lance Corporal Amzar, the crime that he committed did not involve any “exchanging” of anything – he came to the victim’s home uninvited, beat the crap out of the victim unprovoked, put the victim on a chokehold, flailing him around like a rag doll, rendering the victim unable to do any “exchanging” of anything. This is not hearsay, it was an act caught on CCTV recording. So, for those who have seen the CCTV recording (they know who they are), did Lance Corporal Amzar commit a “fighting” or an assault?? 

For someone who is well aware about the circumstances of this case, who have watched the CCTV recording and appalled by it, I was completely disgusted to find out when reading the news article that Lance Corporal Amzar “mengaku bersalah kerana bergaduh” – “pleaded guilty to fighting”.  Again, for those who have seen the CCTV recording (again, they know who they are), don’t you see how outrageous that sounds??

More on this here – Truth, No Just-Ease

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The victim is someone I know and I can confirm that what is mentioned in this article is far from accurate. Unlike other cases, I also noticed that there is no coverage of this case in English. It was an assault case, and to say that it was a “Pergaduhan” (translated to English as “Fighting”) is totally misleading. There is also lack of consistency in reporting. In coverage of other crimes involving uniformed personnel, the affiliations, Policeman or Military Personnel, were freely mentioned, like it was no one’s business. Then, why is this case treated differently? Why does this criminal get a better treatment in reporting by leaving out his ranking and affiliation? He is a Lance Corporal in the military. He assaulted a civilian, leaving the victim with a bloody face and a permanent damage to his nose and the jerk just got fined $3,000 which he could totally afford. And yeah, he still got to keep his job. Do we want to have this kind of people in our security agencies? Would the military just let him stay knowingly that what he did contradicts with the military’s core values of Courageous, Loyal, Piety and Professional?

Get the full truth and details here [No Just-Ease]

What does one do when he or she becomes a victim of a crime? Is there an SOP to be followed by the public on what to do? But, before doing any of that, how do you know that what had happened to you was a crime. What constitutes a crime? According to the dictionary, a crime is an illegal act, an act committed in violation of the law, an action that is legally prohibited. By way that the words legal and law appeared in the definition means that whether something is a crime or not would depend on the criminal laws of particular jurisdictions / countries. In Brunei, the acts that are considered as crimes could be found in the country’s penal codes (both common law and shariah law).

For us the layman, some actions we know by common sense are crime – theft, robbery, corruption, assault, murder. Except for being murdered (of course), depending on how the victim felt about the crime, the victim could either let it go or report the crime to the police. There are indeed victims who (voluntarily) don’t report crime, for example, if the perpetrator is a spouse (say domestic violence) or family member (say theft). Victims of sexual assault also may choose not to report due to trauma, shame or fear of stigma. Apart from this kind of situations, it is logical to assume that the first thing victims would do is to make a police report, either by calling 993 or going straight to the police station. I know I would. Why? Because I would want the criminal to be arrested and punished so that he or she won’t do it to me again and to other people, and also subsequently to deter other would-be criminals. I would also want the satisfaction of seeing the criminal being punished as retribution for the emotional distress that I’ve suffered because of the crime.

So, when my cousin, one night in 2019, with a bloody face went to the Sengkurong police station to make a police report after he was assaulted by his ex-wife’s boyfriend, an obvious crime that was caught on cctv, I was pretty sure that it was an open and shut case, that the attacker will be arrested and jailed. Now, over 2 years on, the attacker is still free, is still serving as a Lance Corporal in the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (a supposedly highly discipline organisation), is still active on social media rubbing it in about his care free life. So, what went wrong? Would justice be eventually served? Why is it so slow to get justice? Who is responsible for the emotional pain suffered by victims throughout this long wait for justice to happen?

Take the example of the two brothers, Warrant Officer 2 Mohammad Yusirwan bin Yussof and Mohammad Yadiy Yusranshah bin Yussof who beat the crap out of a teacher at Sayyidina Abu Bakar Secondary School back in 2017. The video went viral. The public was outraged for a moment then forgot about it as they moved on to other viral things. In January 2020, the public read in the local newspaper that the two brothers were handed jail sentences for the assault. Many voiced their satisfaction to the sentencing, that this should serve as a warning for other would-be thugs that they can’t just go around and beat people up without facing consequences. But, did anyone question why it took 3 years for them to be found guilty and punished for their action, all the while they were still free to continue their day jobs, one a military Warrant Officer and one a Bilal, two organisations that should boast respectable employees. Did the police and the prosecution team offer any explanation as to why it took that long? Do they take accountability for the emotional pain suffered by the teacher due to the slowness in getting justice? Do they even have a standard, a measure, a KPI, TPOR for the speed of their service? For crimes with no suspects where the perpetrators are not known, the slowness would be understandable, given the needed time to get leads and do investigative work. But, when the perpetrators are as clear as day, with witnesses, caught on video even, I really need some enlightenment on why it took 3 years before they got sentenced. Maybe there is a strong reason for it. What do I know.

In my attempt to diagnose the problem and get answers, I sat down with my cousin and asked him to give me a blow-by-blow account on what he had to endure from day one until today.

12 Feb 2019, 2250H, Sengkurong.

It was late, his children were sound asleep, and my cousin Z was about to turn in for the night. Then the silence of the night was broken by the sound of a car honk. Z peered through the window and saw his ex-wife’s car outside. In it were his ex-wife at the front passenger seat and her boyfriend, Lance Corporal Amzar bin Azamain at the driver’s seat. Z knew about this boyfriend of hers as she had been rubbing it in about this buff soldier boyfriend that she got. In private messages to Z, she ridiculed Z’s manliness compared to the “perfect” Lance Corporal Amzar and insinuated that this boyfriend is ready to beat Z up anytime. That night, she had decided she wanted to pick up the kids eventhough she knew well that it was late and the kids were already sleeping. Whatever for? Perhaps just to show that she could. Well, that’s fine. But the fact that she brought her boyfriend along, for me, indicated that there was a malicious intent to intimidate and trigger a confrontation.

Z texted the ex-wife saying that the kids were sleeping and that he would send them to her place early in the morning. But she was not having any of it and demanded for Z to send the kids out the door right then. Then a barrage of honks followed. Now, bear in mind that it was past 10pm when this happened, and Z’s place is part of a row of semi-detached houses along a cul-de-sac. Clearly, the duo in the car didn’t give a shit that their annoying honks would create public disturbance, waking up the neighbours, creating unnecessary scene. Z had no choice but to go out and attend to them in order to get them to stop honking.

Z knew and could sense that the reason why the two were there, in the middle of the night, was not about picking up the kids. From the sentiments in the ex-wife’s text messages and the phonecall harrassments by the boyfriend, Z knew that the askar was out for blood that night. Impress the girl by beating up her ex-husband. Typical. So, Z took precaution. He kept a distance, telling the ex-wife again that he will send the kids early in the morning and to pity the kids, as they were already sleeping soundly. These are 4 and 2-year-olds, for god’s sake! Well, instead to listening to her motherly instinct to let the children sleep in peace, she let the bulldog out.

The bulldog, who was already all amped up, stormed towards Z, and in a split second, yanked Z towards him and wrapped his hand around Z’s neck in a chokehold. Z fell to the ground. Not releasing the chokehold, Lance Corporal Amzar proceeded to punch Z in the face repeatedly, not twice, not thrice, but 6 to 7 times. The blood from the first punch didn’t deter him to continue the assault until Z face and shirt were soaked in blood. Bravo askar, although I don’t think they have the “how to attack a civilian module” in military training.

Now, help me understand why, in the end, he just got fined and ZERO jail term. 

12 Feb 2019, 2300+H, Sengkurong Police Station.

With the bloody face and the excruciating pain in his nose, which continued bleeding by the way, Z took his car’s key and drove straight to the Sengkurong police station to make a police report. Z told the attending policemen that he was attacked by Lance Corporal Amzar. Here was when Z got his first taste of reality as a victim of crime. Just because you know the identity of the perpetrator, it doesn’t mean that the police will immediately jump into their police car, hunt and arrest the person. No. They will just write down your report, said uh-huh….uh-huh….uh-huh then tara…toodle-oo. Well, yeah, the police needed to investigate, get evidence first before making any arrest. But, they could at least show some enthusiasm and assurance to comfort the victim.

Not only that Z didn’t get the feeling of assurance that he needed, then came in Lance Corporal Amzar. “That’s him!” Z said to the policemen. Apparently, he saw Z going to the police station and followed suit. At this point, Lance Corporal Amzar still didn’t know about the existence of the CCTV recording. There, he was trying to “sanitise” what had happened by saying that he and Z were fighting (throwing punches to each other). Almost implying that it was a “consensual” physical fight, no crime involved. He said that he was injured too showing the police the baby bruises on his elbow and his knuckles. The police took his statement and with a smirk on his face, he left.

12 and 13 Feb 2019, RIPAS.

So, that night the police brought Z to RIPAS for medical examination. 2 policemen accompanied him to the Accident and Emergency Unit, where an emergency physician inspected his injuries. The Doctor took an x-ray and asked Z to see a specialist at the OMF the following day. At the OMF, the specialist confirmed that Z had a fractured nose and permanent deviated septum injuries. Yes, Permanent y’all! There were also several cuts on his face with the ones on the nose and forehead needing stitches. 

13 Feb 2019, 1500H, Z’s House.

The following day, Z got a call from the police. They wanted to take some pictures of the crime scene as part of their evidence collection. On the same day, Z also passed to the police a copy of the CCTV recording of the attack.

 For Z, things looked promising. The police went about to gather all the evidence within 24 hours after the incident. They got the medical report, photos of the bloody crime scene and yeah, the CCTV recording. Then….that was it. Weeks passed by and Z was left wondering about the progress of the case, or whether there was any progress at all. He kept on telling himself to tunggu saja and that justice will be served. Orang jahat mesti kana tangkap, that’s what we were taught and made to believe growing up.  

In April 2019, two months after the attack, Z went to the Sengkurong Police Station to enquire about the progress where he was informed that they had already passed the case  to the AGC’s DPP Hjh Muizzah binti Haji Sabli.

Here is where Z learned another reality as a victim of crime. Other than helping the police in supplying the information and evidence during the police investigation and evidence collection stage, the victim’s involvement pretty much ended there. The police are not obligated to update the victim on the progress of the case, nor are they obligated to share with the victim the case Statement that they had passed to the Public Prosecutor. This is to say that the police may not agree or take the victim’s word for it if the victim said that it was trespassing, assault, or this or that crime that had happened. The victim is expected to just move on with his/her life and the police will take it from there, because they know better.   

Now, for the purpose of analysis, lets say that there was no CCTV recording of the incident. It will be Z’s words (being assaulted) against Lance Corporal Amzar’s words (consensual fighting). Z has no witness on his side to corroborate his claim of being attacked. Meanwhile, Lance Corporal Amzar has his girlfriend (Z’s ex-wife) who was there during the incident who would of course “confirm” that it was just a pergaduhan as claimed by Lance Corporal Amzar. So, without the CCTV recording, there is a possibility that the police would believe Lance Corporal Amzar’s version of the event that it was a “Pergaduhan”.

With the presence of the CCTV recording, there is no way for the police or even anyone to believe that it was just a pergaduhan. Lance Corporal Amzar got out of the car, entered through the gate (trespassing!), put Z on a chokehold, punched Z’s face many times, all the time Z didn’t even raise his hands. In fact, watching the CCTV recording, Z was punched and dragged like a ragdoll.

Now, again, please please help me understand how a clear case of VOLUNTARILY CAUSING HURT, supported by evidence, magically changed to PERGADUHAN when this case went in front of a judge.

So, what will happen after a case is already passed by the police to the DPP? The case will go to court if the DPP decides that there is enough evidence to prosecute. Note that the victim doesn’t get to decide who the allocated DPP would be. Also, note that these are public prosecutors, not defence attorneys, so they only communicate with the police and the allocated DPP is not obligated to update the victim on the development or to discuss or share with the victim about his or her “game plan” on how to proceed with the case. In other words, the decision whether to prosecute and on what charge is at the discretion of the DPP, because they know better. This became another reality that Z learned as a victim of crime.

It is easy for anybody to say or ask the victim to be patience and not to pester the police and the DPP asking for progress of the case, but only when one becomes a victim of crime would one understand the anxiety and frustrations involved wondering if and when the criminal will be brought to justice and punished accordingly.

Bear in mind that the attack took place just over a month after a military personnel physically abused to DEATH the 2-year-old son of his girlfriend in Lumut. This added to Z’s anxiety, losing sleep worried sick about his children each passing day. Lance Corporal Amzar would hang out at Z’s ex-wife house, around the kids. Once, Z’s 4-year-old son told him “kawan umi jahat”. Z informed the police about this worry, but other than that there was nothing more that Z could do to prevent his children from being the prospective subject to Lance Corporal Amzar’s violence. He just had to let the justice system runs its course (how long – unknown) and for the justice system to eventually take Lance Corporal Amzar “off the streets” (or so he thought).

Another month would pass by, and when asked, the police kept on telling Z that they have no update for him since the case was already off their hands. Each day, Z was wondering more and more whether this is normal. Whether it is normal for a violent person, who attacked someone, and got reported to the police, and the police saw the person’s violent “work” with their own naked eyes, to get to go home and continue on with his daily activities like nothing ever happened, and yeah allowed to be around the unsuspected public, free to do violence on other people.

In May 2019, three months after the attack, Z tried to contact the person who knew exactly the update to the case. Oooh Boy, Z said, the person was really elusive. In the end, Z managed to see the person. But what transpired from the short conversation with that person left Z more restless and frustrated. Right off the bat, the person asked Z three distasteful questions. By the time the person asked Z the third question, Z began to realise that the three questions were implying that Z is a nuisance for claiming that he was assaulted, that it was really a mere “pergaduhan” as claimed by Lance Corporal Amzar, and (the worst of all) that the ex-wife had full custody of the kids and Lance Corporal Amzar’s attack on Z that night was justified because Z refused to “give” the kids to them. Poor Z had to explain again the true thing that happened like he was the guilty one instead. Z mentioned that the CCTV recording would verify what he said. While seeming aware of the presence of the CCTV, the person didn’t seem to acknowledge it to play a part in their evaluation of the case. To add insult to injury, the person then told Z that “given the circumstance” and given that he is a first offender, Lance Corporal Amzar would just be fined. Z was shocked to hear this, and insisted that it was an assault punishable by jail. The person said that if Z insisted so then “be ready” for this case to take longer to conclude. Wawwww, speechless….    

By the way, is there really such a thing as being spared a jail term for causing hurt if the attacker is a first offender??

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Who named their child Sinting knowingly that the word means “insane”? Well, apparently someone did and when she grew up she did not disappoint.

From day one, Sinting had it tough. Her parents divorced shortly after she was born. Neither one of her parents wanted to take her. She was sent to live with her grandparents. Her parents just went on with their lives, leaving the grandparents, who were just mere farmers, to support Sinting with the very little financial resource that they had. The life of hardship soon had taken a toll on Sinting’s education. She went to school up to Darjah 4 before dropping out.

Apart from growing up poor, Sinting also was suffering from strange episodes that nobody could explain. When she was 8 years old, while playing with her cousin, she just blacked out and remained unconscious for two days, yep 48 hours!. This was in the 1960s, and the village where Sinting was staying is deep in the remote areas of the Tutong district. Quickly bringing her to see a doctor at the hospital was not even an available option. When she came to two days later she seemed completely fine, so her grandparents didn’t think too much about the possible explanation for the strange episode.

The sense of relief was short-lived when not long after that Sinting was found missing. Her grandparents and the villagers frantically looked for her. After several days of searching, she was found in the jungle. When asked, she had no recollection of going into the jungle, how she survived for days in the jungle, and what happened the entire time she was in the jungle. She just didn’t remember anything at all. Again, she seemed completely fine, and so, again, her grandparents didn’t think too much about the possible explanation for the strange episode. Oya, and another thing, Sinting would also often seen seemingly talking to herself.

As Sinting entered her teen years, she grew out of the blacking out and disappearing episodes, but the talking to herself part remained. By that time, her grandparents, who knew that their time in this world was getting limited, began to prepare Sinting to take care of herself when they were eventually gone. Their plan was to marry her off and they got just the best candidate for it.

Enter Koo, a boy from the next village. Koo’s parents were acquaintance with Sinting’s grandparents. A decent, obedient and well-mannered boy who Sinting’s grandparents had been observing for quite some time. After completing secondary school, Koo applied and got accepted as a police officer. Sinting’s grandparents wasted no time and went in for the kill (no pun intended). Being a good boy that he was, Koo didn’t object, even though he didn’t know much about Sinting and her family. It was an arranged marriage, which was not uncommon back then.

The newly married couple moved into the married quarters at the Berakas police compound. It was a completely new environment for Sinting, who never had a boyfriend and never set foot anywhere away from her remote village before. She seemed to be adjusting well to the new role as a wife and the more modern life in the suburb. She also made friends with the police wives who lived in the same married quarters who she introduced herself to as Julie. Goodbye Sinting, and hello Julie.

Julie doted on her husband, who she considered as her knight in shining armor. What she was feeling, she never felt like that before, a sense of protection. With her father’s absence, the only “masculine” figure in her life before this was her grandfather, but even that was not even close to sense of security she was getting from her young police officer husband. Julie was so in love with her husband, but instead of being happy in love, she was consumed with extreme paranoia, paranoid that her husband would leave her for another woman.

Now, lets get back to Koo. Each day, Koo learned more and more about the girl that he married. The first thing he discovered was that Julie would often laugh and talk to herself. He didn’t think (yet) that something was off with her, he thought it was just a personality quirk. He also noticed that Julie is so clingy and wanted to be with him all the time. Except from going to work, Koo couldn’t go anywhere without Julie insisting to come along. He got no issue with that (at first), until he realised that when they went out together, Julie would seemingly observe his every move. If he as much as glances or looks at other women, let alone talks to one, Julie’s mood would instantly change and then flew into a jealous rage in the car, at home, for days at a time. Yikes!

The first of such incident happened shortly after their marriage. During a visit at a market, Koo bumped into three ladies, one of them was a classmate of his brother, so they exchanged greetings and started a short conversation. To his shock, Julie threw a fit and accused Koo of flirting and that the woman as “a special friend” to Koo. Throughout their marriage, Julie would bring up about this woman whenever she suspected Koo of infidelity. One could imagine how off-putting that would be, but being a good man that he is, Koo took it in stride. He learned to manage the situation by avoiding the “triggers”.

It wasn’t long after their marriage that Julie got pregnant. A baby would surely keep Julie’s mind away from constantly thinking that Koo was going to leave her for another woman. But, right about the time when Julie got pregnant with their first child, another issue emerged, something that happened only when Koo was at work. Julie would call him frantically asking him to go home because she had just seen something in their room, one time a tall white figure of a man, another time an old woman. These “hallucinations” got worse and worse with time.

The paranoia of losing her husband and the sightings of apparitions and ghostly figures had consumed Julie’s adult  married life with a lot of emotional distress and hysteria. Things quickly went downhill in 1986 when Julie (who already had 3 small children by then) had miscarriages, first in February, then in August, then in November. In December that year, one-month pregnant Julie, who was at sky-high emotional wreck, went berserk when Koo didn’t bring her to a function at the police training school despite being told that spouses were not invited to the event. Despite Julie’s tantrum, Koo went anyway. Uh-oh!

When Koo returned from the event that night, Julie had locked him out of the bedroom, which Koo totally expected. Predictable. So, he just slept on the couch. The next morning, he got up and went to work without attempting to enter the locked room. He knew well that there was nothing he could do or say to help the situation. When he returned from work that day, Julie was still in a stinky mood, which again Koo totally expected. Predictable. He knew that Julie would cool down eventually, “give it 2-3 days”, he predicted. But, Julie would never cool down and Koo would learn the hard way that his predictable wife was not totally predictable after all.

17 December 1986, Berakas Police Compound. Dun-Dun [Law & Order sound]

Koo left for work at 0625 am.

Around 0700 am, Nor, the police wife who lived nextdoor to the Koos was preparing her kids for school when she saw Julie’s head popping through the unit’s door. Julie said “Nor, will you tell my husband that I am going to kill myself” and left. Nor was shocked and just stood there, mouth agape, trying to process what she just heard. When she snapped out of it, a good 2-3 minutes later, she rushed to Julie’s unit. To her horror, she saw Julie stabbing herself in her stomach with a knife! WTF. She also heard the children crying from the bedroom. Nor screamed, startling everyone in the area.

Siti, another police wife who lived at the unit directly below the Koos rushed upstairs to see what was going on. She saw Julie cutting her throat with a knife. Now Siti too joined the screamfest.

Corporal M who was off duty was washing his car when he heard the screams. He rushed to the unit and saw Julie covered with blood but he didn’t see any knife with her. Seeing Corporal M, Julie went into the bedroom and locked its door. Corporal M could hear Julie crying in the room, he demanded Julie to open the door to no avail. The fact that Julie was covered in blood should prompt Corporal M to kick the door open. But he didn’t. Instead, he left and went to the police station to get reinforcement I suppose. Beats me. [Elevator music].

Back to Nor. After she was done screaming, she frantically knocked on a number of doors to get someone to do something quick. Corporal D was still in his towel when Nor knocked on his door. He quickly put some clothes on and rushed to the scene. He could hear children crying coming from the locked room. That would be the perfect cue for him to kick the door open. But he didn’t. Instead he just knocked and knocked, pleading for Julie to open the door and not to harm the children. This lasted for minutes. [Airport music]. Three more policemen would arrive at the scene. Julie eventually opened the door. By that time there were in total more than 10 policemen there including Corporal M (remember him?).

In the room, the three children were covered in blood with knife wounds on their bodies (stab wounds and lacerations on their chests and abdomens). They were all rushed to the hospital. Julie was also taken to the hospital. In the car, on the way to hospital, Julie was heard saying that her husband no longer loved her.

While processing the crime scene, police followed blood trails from the kitchen to the back door down the back stairs to the back of the building where they found  two bloody knives, a 14-inch and 10-inch. In the kitchen sink, they found a container labelled insecticide. They also found a note with some wordings written in Malay which translated to: “Goodbye beloved husband, I am going, won’t be back. I love you till I die”. It was clearly a murder suicide attempt. 

Sadly, the youngest of the children, 3-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries and died. According to the doctor, she could’ve been saved had she been given immediate medical attention. The first and the second child fortunately survived. Julie also survived. The stabbing on her stomach that Nor thought she saw was actually not that serious but when it came to slicing her children’s stomachs, Julie didn’t hold back.

Poor Koo, by the time he was notified and got home, all the children had already been taken to the hospital. He rushed to the hospital and was heartbroken when he saw a small body covered with white sheet. He was told that his second child was inside the operating theatre. He went to console his first child who was crying.

In court, Julie claimed that she didn’t remember anything that day. She didn’t remember writing the suicide note, she even denied that it was her handwriting; she didn’t remember stabbing and slicing her children; she didn’t remember going down the back stairs, out the backyard and hiding the knives; she didn’t remember telling her neighbour that she was going to kill herself. Oh wait, she did remember something. She remembered seeing the apparition of a large black man who then entered her body before she “blacked out” and only gained consciousness when she was at the hospital and was “extremely shocked” to hear what had happened. What a well-organised murder suicide attempt by someone who have blacked out or possessed for that matter.

As you may have guessed, Julie pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The tales from her childhood of blacking out and disappearing acts came in handy in strengthening her insanity plea. There was even an attempt to shift the blame on Koo for ignoring the red flags and not bringing Julie to see a mental illness doctor. Julie claimed that after receiving the necessary medication for her mental condition while in police custody, there had been no more sightings of apparitions and other ghostly figures. At no point that Julie claimed any responsibility for what “she” had done. An innocent child was dead, but Julie was more concerned and upset about Koo’s decision to divorce her without her consent.

The medical expert confirmed that Julie is indeed insane and was suffering from chronic parahold schizophrenia on the day of the murder suicide attempt. Therefore, it was ruled that Julie was not responsible for her acts at the time when they were done. Wow.

Born in 1968, KD grew up shorter than average boys his age. Growing up in Kg Sengkurong, he had a normal childhood. As an adult he stands at 5 feet 2 inches tall. But don’t be fooled by his short stature, as he would become one of the most prolific criminals in the country.

KD was never fond of school and by his teens he had already dropped out and began to mix with the wrong crowd. By adulthood, KD had established himself as a Kampung thug, got a tattoo, doing alcohol and drugs, gatecrashing parties, starting fights, creating all kinds of nuisance. This is in the late 1980s to early 1990s, when drugs and alcohol were notoriously easy to get, when parties with DJs and dancing are common, so as the parties ending with fights between drunk gangs. By all accounts, KD’s somewhat unruly behaviour was part of a phase that most youths at that time went through. What separates KD was that he had developed a penchant for sexual violence. 

KD is obsessed with sex with total disregard of age and consent. At age 26, KD found himself in court. Two of his god knows how many victims had reported him to the police, a 14-year-old and a 24-year-old. During the trial, KD was nonchalant. He pleaded not guilty claiming that the encounters were consensual. But physical evidence and witness statements secured his guilt. These include fresh abrasions found on both the victims’ bodies and their testimonies that KD had threatened to hurt or kill them if they tell anyone about the sexual assault. KD was found guilty and he was sentenced to a total of 16 years imprisonment and 20 strokes of the cane. 

If there is anything to learn from cases of sexual predators, putting them away in prison would only deny them the opportunity to hurt other women, but not eliminate their sick obsession. In a number of countries, upon release from prison they will be registered as sexual offenders, a valuable information for the community they are released into to be alert and take necessary measures. I don’t know if we have that information here and even if we do, I’ve not heard about its existence being informed to the public.

KD didn’t serve the full 16 years imprisonment as he was released early (for good behaviour??). Sure enough, KD would go out and rape women again. He had no care to conceal his crime and be sent back to prison. All he cared about was to fulfill his bottled up needs to sexually attack women. He managed to rape several women around the Bengkurong / Masin area before getting arrested in January 2008. How he managed to overpower those women given his size was pretty mind-boggling. As if that was not amazing enough, KD even managed to escape from police custody. A manhunt ensued with a $10,000 reward was offered for any information on his whereabout. Well, you know what they say, money talks. Within a week, KD was re-arrested. An Indonesian woman was harboring him, she too was arrested. KD was sent to jail again, this time 14 years imprisonment and 14 stokes of the cane, plus another 02 months in jail for escaping from police custody. Just like during the first time he was sentenced, KD didn’t show an inch of remorse. By now, it should’ve been established that KD could not and would not stop raping women, and he should not ever be released into the unsuspecting community. 

Again, KD didn’t serve the full 14 years imprisonment as he was released early (again!). Well, of course he would re-offend again. But what precautionary actions being taken to prevent that from happening? Nothing, I suppose. By that time, KD was 49 years old. The social terrain that he got out into was totally different from the “operational environment” he was familiar with. The internet, smart devices, social media, YouTube, selfies, have taken over people’s lives, at least for the most part the youths. KD found himself unable to find vulnerable women to prey on. His family who took him in tried as much as possible to monitor his activities. But, they were too naive or ignorant to recognise that KD is sick in the head and would not spare anyone just to feed his sick obsession – regardless whether they are small children or family members.

On 08 October 2017, KD entered the room of his 09 year old grandniece, bound her hands, covered her mouth with a pillow, then proceeded to rape her. In court, KD pleaded not guilty. The victim had to relive the nightmare when she testified in court (through a video link). In 2019, 51 year old KD was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. Due to his prior convictions, he was supposed to receive not less than 20 canings, but since he was already over 50, he escaped the cane and instead he got an additional six months jail sentence (in lieu of caning). 

KD would be 76 years old if he served the whole 25 years and 6 months jail term. Would he be released early again? Chances are he would. Would he re-offend again? Chances are he would try. Let’s just hope that when the time comes, the system won’t fail his prospective victim(s) again as it did with the 09 year old girl.