14 years on, justice for Nurin is all her father wants

 

Jazimin Abdul Jalil says it was heart-wrenching to lose his daughter in such a brutal manner.

GOMBAK: It’s 3am and Jazimin Abdul Jalil wakes up from an uneasy sleep, his first thought being about his eight-year-old daughter whose murder 14 years ago caused national outrage.

He walks to a room in the family’s small flat in Setapak and picks up an old photo album to look at precious photographs of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, his second child.

The photos have begun to fade, but his memories of her remain fresh in his mind.

“She was one of a kind, she was mature and cared a great deal about her sisters. If her siblings were arguing, she would be the ‘peacemaker’ and try to resolve the issue,” Jazimin told FMT.

Jazimin says it still hurts that he never had a chance to see Nurin on the day she disappeared.

Nurin was abducted just outside the family’s rented apartment in Wangsa Maju in August 2007. Her remains were found 28 days later stuffed inside a gym bag in front of a shop in Petaling Jaya, over 20km away. She had been raped and murdered.

“I cannot accept having lost Nurin like this. I cannot sleep so long as the person who took her away hasn’t been caught.”

“If my daughter had died in a car accident or drowned in a lake, whether we want to or not, we would have to accept it. But what happened to my daughter involves a third party. It’s heart-wrenching.”

Adding to Jazimin’s pain is the fact that he never got the chance to see Nurin on the day she disappeared.

“I had returned from work that day and went to take a nap. When I woke up, I realised Nurin wasn’t home. I went to look for her before lodging a police report. It hurts that I did not get to meet her that day.”

Jazimin says he often imagines the person Nurin would have grown up to be.

Jazimin said all he wants now is justice for his beloved daughter, adding that he will not be able to be at peace for as long as justice is denied.

“I do not know who the culprit is, where he is, if he is dead or not. I hope the authorities will help me catch him, use whatever expertise, the best technology there is.”

The father of five hopes that he will one day confront Nurin’s kidnapper should the culprit be caught.

‘Remember Nurin’

Nurin’s violent death led to the authorities setting up an early alert system for missing children initially known as the National Urgent Response Information Network (NURIN). It was later renamed the Nationwide Urgent Response (NUR).

Pictures of Nurin decorate a wall at Jazimin’s home in Setapak.

Jazimin said he hopes the original name for the alert system will be reinstated so that people will remember what happened to Nurin, the same way as the US has the America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) alert, named after Amber Hagerman, 9, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1996.

“We do not know what is out there, there are a lot of crimes we cannot see. We have to remember this so it doesn’t happen again,” said Jazimin, a bodyguard who also runs a food stall.

Nurin would be 22 years old if she was still alive. Jazimin says he often imagines the person she would have grown up to be. “Sometimes young ladies come to the stall and when we chat, I ask how old they are. They’ll say ‘I’m 22’, and I think, that’s the same age as Nurin.”

Over 14 years later, Nurin’s abduction, rape and murder remains a cold case, and Jazimin is nowhere nearer to obtaining justice for his daughter.

He is however thankful that many people remember Nurin. “Alhamdulilah (praise be to God), people still remember her. I keep a photo of her at my stall. People see it and they recognise her, and they ask if I’m her father.” - FMT