Datuk's son rape case: Justice has not yet been granted

High Court judge Datuk V. T. Singham, who delivered a landmark judgement against the police force over the death of detainee A. Kugan three years ago, retired on his 65th birthday last Friday. Many lawyers described it as a great loss to the judiciary.

Indeed, the judiciary needs more members with a sense of justice, including Singham. Many major cases have been left unsettled in recent years while the prosecution suffered losses in some other cases. The lack of the sense of justice in the judiciary has led to the lack of enthusiasm and frequent mistakes, leaving criminals unpunished.

Singham awarded RM851,700 in damages to the family of Kugan and pointed out that former Selangor police chief Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, now the Inspector-General of Police, was liable to misfeasance of public office.

However, the prosecution only charged a police officer for seriously hurting Kugan so far. Who should be responsible for Kugan's death? It remains a mystery.

According to the Malaysian prosecution procedure, the police is responsible for investigation before submitting a report and recommendation to the Attorney General's Office to decide whether to charged the suspects in court and under what crime they should be charged with. And the courts make judgements based on the charges and evidence.

Therefore, in Kugan's case, no one knows whether a full investigation has been carried out, and the view of the Attorney General's Office on the case remains untold.

As for the highly concerned Chee Gaik Yap's rape and murder case, judicial commissioner Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab acquitted and discharged Shahril Jaafar from the charge of murdering Chee. In the judgement, Zaki said that the accused's DNA and the semen stains taken from the victim's private part did not match and the prosecution has failed to prove that Shahril had caused the injuries which caused Chee's death.

Some lawyers questioned why the accused was charged only with murder but not also rape. Even if he was found not guilty of murder, he would still have to face the charge of rape.

Canny Ong was abducted from a shopping centre's parking lot, raped and killed 10 years ago and the accused was charged with murder and rape. Today, the Attorney General's Office still have the opportunity to correct the error.

From Chee Gaik Yap's case, we can see that the judicial system needs to play its functions of maintaining laws and justice, and no mistake should be made. Every aspect of the system is interlinked and once there is an omission, all the efforts will be in vain.

If the authorities were able to prevent Shahril from fleeing abroad, the police might be able to collect more evidence at that time. Since the prosecution charged him only with murder, the court could only made the decision based on the trying principle of criminal cases.

In addition to professional competence, the judiciary must also possess a high degree of sense of justice and empathy. Take the Teoh Beng Hock case for instance, the Royal Royal Commission of Inquiry's (RCI) report named three Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) who should be responsible for the death of Teoh, but no one has been charged. One of them has even been promoted to the post of Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission's (EAIC) investigation officer.

The government should also focus on the impacts of prosecution losses on the efforts of curbing crimes. For example, the Pahang police has suffered a number of losses in drug crime cases due to technical problems. Could it be because the high number of crimes have resulted in exhaustion?

Do members of the judiciary have empathy for the heartbroken father of Chee Gaik Yap? Too many criminals have gone unpunished and thus, social grievances have been exacerbated. The problem is, when will justice be granted?

- Sin Chew Daily