Beheaded toddler: Motive being investigated

Was revenge behind the killing of Siti Soffea Emelda Abdullah, the 18-month-old who was found decapitated by the banks of the Klang River in the city Thursday night?

It seems that the toddler’s father could have been in prison with the murder suspect, The Malay Mail reported Friday.

Quoting a police source, the report said this was revealed following the police’s questioning of Siti Soffea’s mother, Siti Salmy Suib, 32.

He added, police have identified the suspect as an Indian-ethnic male in his late 30s who hails from Kuala Lumpur.

“The suspect used to serve time in Kajang prison up until his release a few months ago.

“We cross-checked our findings from the CCTV footage obtained from the shopping mall where the girl was allegedly abducted, with the list of inmates who were released from Kajang prison in recent months, and managed to identify the suspect to be a local Indian in his 30s,” he said.

Siti Soffea’s homeless and unemployed mother was also a local, he added.

He confirmed that Siti Salmy’s husband also served time in prison.

When asked if there was a connection between the suspect and the toddler’s parents, the source said the police were still investigating.

It was reported yesterday that Siti Salmy had gone to the Kota Raya shopping mall with her daughter to hang out with her friends on Thursday afternoon.

Sometime during the outing, Siti Salmy had to use the toilet and left Siti Soffea in the care of her friends. They were on the fourth floor. When she came out five minutes later, her daughter was missing.

Siti Salmy and her friends tried to look for the toddler inside the mall but she was nowhere to be found.

The Malaysian Insider yesterday reported that a security guard at the mall actually saw Siti Soffea being abducted.

Quoting a police source, the report said CCTV footage taken from the premises showed that the guard saw the suspect approaching the toddler, grabbed her and walked off. But the guard did nothing to stop the suspect.

Yesterday, City CID chief Gan Kong Meng said no police report was filed but the police received a public tip-off around 9pm about a man who was seen trying to drown a child in the Klang River near the KTM station on Jalan Sambanthan.

When police arrived at the scene, they found Siti Soffea had been decapitated. She was fully-clothed and lying face down.

Police found fragments of ceramics with traces of blood and a pair of slippers at the scene of the crime.

Eye witnesses interviewed by police claimed that they saw a dark-skinned man carrying a child along the Klang river and laid the child down. He later hit the child on the head with an object.

The man was also seen to have been doing something to the child’s neck.

The public who witnessed the incident had tried to catch the suspect, who had jumped into the river upon being noticed, by walking along the river bank. They saw the man gasping for air before losing him to the river current.

Meanwhile, police source said the search operation for the suspect will be continued today.

The possibility of the suspect drowning in the Klang River, as reported by the media yesterday, was solely based on information given by eye witnesses, he added.