A screenshot of this video posted on Youtube shows a frightened Siti Soffea Emelda trying to hide behind a pillar at the Kota Raya mall, before she was led away by the man on the right. – May 31, 2014.Malaysians have reacted with disgust and anger after the closed-circuit television footage showing two-year-old toddler Siti Soffea Emelda being abducted prior to her gruesome murder on Thursday night made its way to the social media.
Many called for the severest of punishment to be meted out to the person responsible for her death, after the discovery of her decapitated body by the banks of the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur shocked the nation.
One person suggested hudud, or Islamic punishment for serious crimes, be implemented to curb such crimes, while another asked if the girl knew her abductor as the video shows her not crying when she was taken away.
The 28-second clip, which is being widely shared online by users after it was uploaded on Suara Star TV Facebook page, showed the child being taken away by a dark-skinned man clad in a checkered shirt and dark coloured pants, near a lift in the Kota Raya mall in the city centre.
In the clip, the toddler was seen looking back while the man took her to a lift.
At one point, the frightened child ran away from the man and attempted to hide behind a pillar, but the man later led her by the hand to the lift.
Facebook user Becky Faith, commenting on the clip, posted: “Looks like the kid know the men as the kid was very calm with him. Didn't cry and just follow the men as tho she knows him well. Very sad. RIP little one.
“Ur mum to be blamed fully. Instead of leaving you with someone, she shld pull the little gal to gather to toilet like how many mums do. Anyway this is a great lesson for all parents."
Another Facebook user Sivamalar Thevagar said: "Severe punishment should b imposed on those related to this case... the mother n her fren took all 4 granted. How could this fella so cruel. Worse than devil."
Some even called for hudud to be implemented so such heinous crimes could be curbed, while expressing alarm at the crime rate in the country.
The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that a security guard at the mall did not attempt to stop a man from taking away Siti Soffea.
"At the time of the incident, which occurred on the fourth floor, a security guard was present.
"The guard did not do anything to stop the suspect from running off with the girl," a police source said.
Initial police investigations revealed that her mother, Siti Salmy Suib, 32, from Kuala Lumpur, is homeless and unemployed.
Sources said that Siti Soffea's father is currently serving time in prison.
"As such, Siti Salmy and her daughter roam around Kuala Lumpur and depend on the charity of others," the source said.
Members of the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department conduct a search and rescue operation to find the suspect who killed a toddler and who is believed to have jumped into the Klang River. – Pic courtesy of Malaysia's Fire and Rescue Department, May 31, 2014.Police revealed that Siti Salmy's two other children are currently staying with their relatives.
Only Siti Soffea followed her mother as they roamed around the capital city daily.
In the incident which shocked the nation, two witnesses said they saw a man carrying a toddler making his way through the long grass at the river banks.
The eyewitnesses, from Sabah, seeing the suspect strangling the victim while pushing her onto the ground, alerted the auxiliary police at the nearby Public Bank building.
"The suspect then grabbed something that appeared to be a ceramic object, using it to hit the victim," a police source said.
The suspect fled from the auxiliary police before jumping into the Klang River.
The witnesses were later taken to the city police headquarters in Jalan Hang Tuah to compile a photofit of the suspect.
An effort to find the suspect is ongoing with Fire and Rescue Department personnel scouring Klang river since yesterday.
The incident has brought back fears over the country's crime rate.
Last year, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid said while statistics showed a decline in crimes since 2008, serious crimes had been on the rise.
Meanwhile, commenting on another shocking incident, PAS vice-president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the recent gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Kelantan showed the failure of “man-made laws” and proved the need for “divine” Islamic penal law.
He said the incident which allegedly took place on May 20 proved that the existing justice system failed to serve as a deterrent.
Tuan Ibrahim said the hudud could have prevented such crimes..
Local dailies reported that 38 men aged between 15 and 38 had taken turns to rape a Form Three student in a vacant house in Ketereh, Kelantan.
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