Thursday, 29 November 2012

Police warning over girl’s death

Police detained a 40-year-old Pakistani

by Elton Gomes. Posted on November 29, 2012, Thursday

KOTA KINABALU: Police have warned of stern action against any individuals, especially online media publishers who twisted facts on the discovery of the body of a teenage girl by the roadside near Kampung Ranau, about 2km from Kota Marudu town on Sunday.
State Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said inaccurate facts published by social network sites and blogs would not only create undue fears among the people but could also threaten the national security.
“Police are not denying that the case happened but what was being published in several social network sites and blogs on the Internet, including claiming that five Pakistanis had gang-raped the victim before killing and dumping her body by the roadside, is too much, as the case is still under police investigation,” he said.
“Therefore, I strongly remind online publishers to stop releasing false information or action will be taken under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, which carries a fine of up to RM50,000 or one year’s jail term,” he said during a press conference at the State Police Headquarters in Kepayan yesterday.
Hamza was commenting on claims made over the murder of Norikoh Saliwa, a 16-year-old maid from Kampung Bombong 1, Kota Marudu on November 25.
Revealing the facts of the case, he said the victim, her 32-year-old sister and a 15-year-old male cousin had gone to the Kota Marudu town to find a job for the cousin.
They then went to a furniture shop in Goshen, some two km from Kota Marudu town, where the cousin was given a job.
The trio then returned to Kota Marudu town together with the manager of the furniture shop for a drink.
“While they were having a drink in Kota Marudu, the victim’s sister realized that she had left something at the furniture shop in Goshen and asked the victim to follow the store manager back to the shop to collect it.
“After the victim and the store manager had left, the victim’s sister was still able to call the victim to check if she was fine and the victim replied saying that she was alright and nothing was wrong.
“Moments later, the sister and the cousin heard news of the victim’s body with head injuries being found on the roadside, placing the 40-year-old Pakistani store manager as the last person known to be with the victim before she died,” said Hamza, adding that police had detained the latter on November 27 to assist in their investigation.
As the case is still being investigated, including waiting for the pathologist’s report, Hamza said he had no idea how the online articles could state that doctors had confirmed that the victim was raped by several men or other details on injuries found on the victim’s body.
“Based on initial autopsy pictures that I have seen, the only obvious injuries the victim suffered was the head injury and couple of scratches on the body, but it is only with the full report (from the Pathology Department) that we can determine if there are any internal injuries, including whether the victim was raped or not,” he said.
The case is currently being investigated under Section 304 of the Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Also present were Crime Investigation Department chief SAC Omar Mammah and State Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Superintendent Saiman Kasran.