Minister emphasises rehabilitation after teen lovers nabbed for murder

Hannah Yeoh has emphasised the need for rehabilitation with regard to the arrest of two teenagers in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old schoolboy in Taiping, Perak.

The women, family and community development deputy minister said the issue should not be viewed from the perspective of apprehending the suspects alone.

“Rehabilitation is also important... This involves a crime committed by children against another child... They (the suspects) are still young and have a long future ahead of them,” she told reporters when met in Parliament this afternoon.

According to news reports, police detained the 14-year-old girl and her 15-year-old boyfriend, both of whom are still in school, yesterday after they had confessed to being involved in the murder.

The victim, whose remains were found in a vacant house in Kamunting, is the brother of the female suspect.

Taiping district police chief Osman Mama said preliminary investigations revealed that the girl had brought her boyfriend and friends to the vacant house before escaping after the victim returned from school.

“The male suspect had left his handphone at the girl's house. The victim, who had answered a phone call on the phone, had asked his sister's boyfriend to come to the house to collect the phone before a fight ensued that ended with the murder,” he said.

According to Osman, the suspects were believed to have used a piece of plastic to cover the victim’s head, before slitting his neck and both wrists with a knife.

Meanwhile, Yeoh also attributed such crimes to problems within a family unit.

“We want to focus more on the basic issue of families. We want parents to spend time (with their children)

“Usually, such things happen when there is a communication breakdown where family members do not speak (to each other). Nobody is monitoring or educating (the children).

“The trend, which I see, is when a family has no father or has a single mother who is forced to seek employment and the children are left (alone),” she added.

In a related development, Bernama reported that the two teenage suspects have been remanded for six days to facilitate investigations. - mkini