“What rape?”
“I take that as a yes.”
She nods to Mislan. He boots up the laptop, and turns the screen toward the suspect.
A still image of a man wearing pantyhose over his head, holding a knife, and standing over a terrified woman, appears on the monitor. The suspect strains his eyes at the monitor. Mislan watches him closely, but doesn’t see any sign of recognition on his face.
“This and several others,” Sherry says, pushing the laptop closer to the suspect.
“I don’t know anything about it.”
“What if I tell you we have a written statement from a man who claims you gave him the videos for upload?”
“You’re lying.”
“Do you know this man?” Sherry shows him a photo.
Pak Non winces slightly and his eyes narrow, but he replies, “No.”
“He claims to be your nephew, Azuandin Hamzah. Don’t you know your own nephew?”
“He’s lying. I don’t know who he is.”
“How about this man?” Sherry pushes Ape-Man’s photo toward him. “He, too, has given us a written statement saying he knows you.”
Pak Non winces again before saying, “I don’t know him, either. They’re both lying.”
“We’re lying, they’re lying, everybody’s lying except you,” Mislan sneers. The suspect leans back in his chair, clearly intimidated by him. “And what’s the reason for us, and them, to lie?”
The suspect blinks rapidly but doesn’t answer the question. Sherry allows a few moments to pass before continuing.
“Do you think we’d arrest a senior government officer without being sure of the evidence we have?”
“Don’t take us for fools,” Mislan says, leaning back in his chair.
“You come clean with us, and we’ll report to our bosses that you’re cooperative, and you may still have a job after all this is over. This is your last chance. Once we walk out that door, the offer walks out with us. The next thing you know, you’ll be standing in the dock, facing charges for multiple rapes and a murder,” Sherry adds.
“You may win the case with your high-priced lawyer. It really doesn’t matter, because the media will turn up in droves at your trial. They may even want to talk to your family for stories. What do you think?” Mislan says, toying with him.
From the task force room, Dr. Suthisa watches the suspect’s face, body language, and speech patterns, making notes on her tablet.
“Is there a way to communicate with your officers?” she asks.
“I can call them,” Samsiah replies.
“Tell them to freeze the video on the victim’s face. I’d like to study the suspect’s reaction.”
“They only have one laptop with them: it’ll take time to go through all the four videos of the rapes. Can they do it with still photos?” Samsiah suggests.
“Yes.”
“Sai, print out the victims’ faces, including the murder victim.”
“Clean or gory?”
“The goriest you’ve got,” Dr. Suthisa says.
“Ask the woman officer to show it to him, and do it slowly, one at a time. Give him time to react. Before that, ask him if he has daughters. If he does, suggest to him that one of them could’ve been his daughter.”
Saifuddin hands Dr. Suthisa the photos.
“Here, let me pass these on to Sherry,” Chandramala says. “I’ll brief her on what to do.”
As she leaves, Dr. Suthisa asks if she can smoke.
“Yes, you may,” Saifuddin says, jumping off his chair to grab an ashtray from the top of the cabinet. Samsiah smiles at Saifuddin while politely declining Dr. Suthisa’s offer of a cigarette. As soon as she lights up, Saifuddin takes out his own pack and lights one himself.
Sherry’s voice comes over the speakers. She’s asking the suspect about his family. The suspect says he has three children, one boy and two girls. The older girl is fourteen. Dr. Suthisa zooms in to the suspect’s face, watching it closely. The suspect flinches slightly when Sherry shows him a photo of the first victim. Dr. Suthisa zooms in on his eyes, and then zooms out to capture his whole body. When Sherry pushes the second victim’s photo toward him, he recoils visibly. When Sherry shows him the picture of the murder victim, the suspect turns pale, looks away, and pleads.
“Stop it. Stop it.”
“Did it cross your mind that these are somebody’s daughters?” Sherry presses. “What if this was to happen to one of your daughters?”
“How dare you?” the suspect says, glaring at her. “My daughters are not lesbians.”
“How did you know these women were lesbians?” Mislan pounces. “How the hell did you know that?”
“Yes, how did you know?” Sherry inquires.
The suspect is clearly shaken by his revelation. “It’s in the papers.”
“No, that has never been reported. How did you know they’re lesbians?” Mislan bellows at the suspect. “The only way you could’ve known is if you’re the rapist or the murderer.”
“No, no, I didn’t rape or murder anyone.”
“I don’t give a damn if you did or didn’t. I’ve two witnesses linking you to the UTube rape videos, and you’ve just made a statement that reveals intimate undisclosed knowledge of the crime … facts that only the police and the perpetrators knew.” Mislan laughs. “That’s good enough for me. I’m going to charge you for the four rapes and a murder. I get to close my case, and it’s up to you to prove in court that you’re innocent.”
“You can’t do that. I didn’t rape or murder them.”
“You think the media is going to give a shit?” Mislan hisses, standing to leave. Addressing Sherry, he tells her, “Lock him up and charge him on Monday.”
After Mislan leaves the interview room, Sherry says, “Well, Pak Non, you heard my boss.”
“I swear, I didn’t rape or kill anyone. You’ve got to believe me,” the suspect pleads with her.
“If you want me to help you, you’ll have to talk to me. Tell me where you got the videos, and how you know Azuandin and Radin.”
The suspect lowers his head and stares at the floor in silence. Sherry waits a moment before moving toward him, pretending to unlock his handcuff.
“That’s it, then. You can forget about seeing your family as a free man ever again. Rape and murder are not bailable offenses. Come, let’s go.”
“No, no. I’ll talk. Promise me, I’ll not be charged.”
“No promises. It would depend on what you tell me. I’ll take it to my boss.”
“Call him back, your boss,” Pak Non pleads.
Stepping out of the interview room, she finds Mislan leaning against the wall outside. She smiles at him. “Great move.”
“He crack?”
“Like groundnut, and he wants you back.”
57
SUPERINTENDENT SAMSIAH, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT Chandramala, Inspector Mislan, and Inspector Sherry listen to Dr. Suthisa Ritchu explaining her observations. Freezing an image from the Pak Non interview, she points out, “Here, you see him flinch when he sees the first victim’s photo. It becomes more obvious with the second one.” She runs the video and pauses it. “This is when he sees the picture of the murder victim. He turns away in horror. That’s not the behavior of a psychopath. Psychopaths show no remorse. They’re devoid of such emotions, and they usually take pride in their criminal work.”
“So, do you think he was a participant in the act?” Samsiah asks.
“His hatred for gays is obvious. Here.” She stops the video at another point. “Here you see how he backs away, trying to distance himself from any discussion concerning LGBTs. In his mind, it’s taboo and un-Islamic even to discuss it.”
“Could his hatred have driven him to commit the crimes?” Chandramala asks.
“Involvement, that’s for certain, but as I said, directly participating in the act … I doubt it. However, due to his hatred toward LGBTs, he’s a choice recruit for a psychopath, easily manipulated and do
minated. Most people tend to underestimate psychopaths, thinking they’re merely stupid or crazy. On the contrary, psychopaths are highly intelligent individuals.”
“So, we’re looking for an intelligent man who hates gays. How difficult can that be?” Mislan says. “There are only about a few million of them.”
“It’s not a lost cause,” Dr. Suthisa says, smiling reassuringly. “The suspect that you’re looking for is a man or a woman of influence, could even be a man or woman of power. He or she is patient and extremely devoted to his or her faith and cause.” She pauses to light a cigarette. “This idea of emancipating nonconformists is common in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism but less so in polytheist religions, though it’s not unknown. Since your victims are all Muslim women, I’d say the person you’re looking for is also a Muslim.”
“You said we’re looking for a man or woman,” Samsiah says. “I’ve heard of women assisting rape, but would a woman get someone else to go around raping other women?”
“I believe we’re all in agreement that these rapes were not committed out of sexual drive or male dominance. In other words, they were committed not with the common motives of most rape cases.”
The officers nod.
“These rapes were motivated by a specific cause, thus the username Emancipatist, which should be actually be Emancipator. Now this is just my theory, and I may well be wrong.”
“We’re open to any theory,” Samsiah says.
“The username ‘Emancipatist’ may not be a spelling mistake or from lack of English as we thought. And I don’t think it’s that the username ‘Emancipator’ was taken, as Sai explained, with the need to come up with a different one. I think ‘Emancipatist’ was deliberate and intentional.”
Dr. Suthisa notices the confused look on the officers’ faces and smiles.
“This individual we’re dealing with sees him- or herself as a specialist. Not just an emancipator or liberator but an emancipatist. Let me try to explain. A doctor is general, but a cardiologist is a specialist. A preacher is general, but an evangelist is a specialist. Do you see the difference?”
“Like a grave robber is general, and an archaeologist is a specialist,” Mislan says.
Dr. Suthisa laughs. “Something like that. My feeling is that ‘emancipatist’ was specifically coined by them to suggest that they’re specialist doing god’s work. That’s the objective, or so the offenders intended. He, or she, feels the act of rape will liberate the victims from their wayward behavior and allow them to revert to the ways of their faith. So yes, it can be a male or female behind it. The reason I profiled him, or her, as Muslim is because there would be no reason for a non-Muslim to liberate a Muslim.”
“But the act of rape and murder is evil and un-Islamic,” Samsiah points out.
“Again, you have to understand, this is not a matter of being evil or un-Islamic. In the psychopath’s mind, there’s no conflict in being evil to fight evil, to fight a war or self-destruct as a suicide bomber for the glory of your faith…. Doing the Lord’s work, as they said in Christianity. Here, observe the suspect’s expressions and body language when the subject is raised. Note the horror but also the absence of sympathy.”
“And you’re saying this unknown brilliant psychopath is the rapist and murderer,” Chandramala interjects.
“In this case, I don’t believe that to be so. In most cases, psychopaths commit crimes because of their big egos and pride. They’d want the crime committed exactly the way they’d planned and pictured it. However, there’ve been numerous cases where psychopaths employ others to do their dirty work. Detailed and very specific instructions will be issued as to how to commit the criminal act.”
“That’s why the same MO was used,” Sherry says. “And as Mislan pointed out, they corrected their mistakes, and the dialogue was all scripted and rehearsed.”
“And the same username,” Saifuddin butts in from behind his monitors.
Dr. Suthisa nods.
“If that’s the case, only the rapists would know the psychopath’s identity,” Mislan theorizes.
“Yes and no,” Dr. Suthisa says. “The instructions could be given through phone calls, emails, letters, or go-betweens, in which case there’s no face-to-face contact between them.”
The room is silent.
“In my view, your best chance of identifying this suspect is to go back to the anti-LGBT movements. Your suspects claim to have met one another at these gatherings. When recruiting individuals, a psychopath needs to be sure they share the same sentiment and subscribe to the same ideology or cause. Secondly, the psychopath needs to ensure that he or she won’t be exposed or snitched on should the venture fail.”
“That makes sense,” Chandramala agrees.
Sherry steps across to her whiteboard and starts pinning up the mug shots of the suspects, linking them in an organizational chart. She puts a question mark above the image of Pak Non.
“I don’t think Pak Non has a direct link to the mastermind,” Mislan says. “He has admitted to passing on envelopes that he believes contained money to Azuandin, twice. This is corroborated by Azuandin’s admission that he got the money to buy the laptops from Pak Non, which he then gave to Ape-Man. Pak Non further claims that the videos were dropped into his letterbox by an unknown person. He then got a call from a man who identified himself as the Dispatcher and instructed him to call Azuandin and hand the videos over to him. He says the arrangements were made by a man known to him as Halil. They had met once at an anti-LGBT gathering and a few more times casually after that. Halil had then recruited Pak Non to be the mailman for the cause. I suspect there may be more layers between this Halil and the mastermind.”
“Are we checking on this Halil?” Samsiah asks.
“Deena and Dorai are on it,” Sherry says.
“The way I see it, this Halil could be the head of only one cell, or he could be controlling multiple cells. Pak Non admitted to handing over three videos to Azuandin, and the fourth rape was uploaded while Azuandin and Ape-Man were in our custody. Either Halil is controlling two cells, or there’s another Halil out there controlling more cells,” Mislan theorizes.
“Inspector Mislan may be right,” Dr. Suthisa agrees.
“The third and fourth cases were in Selangor. That’s another reason why I believe there may be other cells. Probably one or several cells in each state.”
“Scary,” Sherry remarks.
“Whatever it is, let’s find out who this Halil is,” Chandramala says, “And bring him in for questioning.”
58
SENIOR ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FARIDAH Manap and the head of Public Affairs welcome the media and thank them for making time to be present. She apologizes for the short notice given.
“I called you here in the hope that you will, as usual, give us your fullest cooperation. As you’re all aware, there was another rape video posted on UTube this morning by the Emancipatist.” She pauses to evaluate the reaction and doesn’t like what she sees. A few reporters are already eagerly raising their hands to ask questions. She hears a voice call out, “You mean the UTube Serial Rapist?” The room erupts with questions shouted by the rest of them.
Faridah holds up her hands, and after several more shouted questions the ruckus subsides sufficiently for her to be heard.
“Let me finish before I take questions,” she says, flashing a bright smile.
It takes another minute for the crowd to quieten down.
“The cases have attracted much media attention and, unfortunately, appear to have caused undue panic in the community. Please don’t take this the wrong way: the police aren’t blaming the press for doing your job. We’re appealing to the media for a temporary moratorium on all news pertaining to these cases. We don’t want mass panic or to cause people to take matters into their own hands. Innocent people could get hurt, and things could get out of control. We fully appreciate that the public has a right to know and to be warned of any danger. However, we must bear in mind the co
nsequences of a nationwide panic. So, on behalf of the police force, we ask for your understanding and cooperation to temporarily suspend all stories about these serial rapes.”
She takes a deep breath and turns to look at the head of Public Affairs, who smiles and shakes his head, indicating he has nothing to add.
“Now, I’ll take questions.”
“Ma’am, have the police made any progress in the case?” someone shouts from the back row.
Holding up her hands again, she says calmly, “I’ll answer questions on the condition it will not be reported. For the moment, it will be for your ears only, to erase any doubts that you may have. Are we in agreement?”
She hears a resounding, “Yes!” from the crowd, which comes a little too quickly for her liking.
“OK, please raise your hands, and I’ll invite you to speak. Do introduce yourself before asking your question.”
Hands shoot up, instantly.
“Yes, you sir, in the third row with the blue shirt.”
“Ma’am, I’m Harun from Metro. Is Bukit Aman taking over the investigation?”
“As of today, we’ll be leading the investigation. You, ma’am, in the back row in the yellow baju kurung.”
“Assalamu’alaikum, I’m Zahara from KOSMO. Have the police arrested any suspects yet?”
“Waalaikumsalam. Yes, we are interviewing several individuals to assist us in the investigations.”
She scans the room, “You, ma’am, here in the front row, yes you.”
“I’m Audi from Astro Awani. I have information that the task force has conducted several raids and arrested a number of people who are believed to be members of anti-LGBT movements. Is that true?”
“As I said earlier, we’re interviewing several individuals who are assisting us with our investigations.”
“Are the individuals members of anti-LGBT movements?”
“My understanding is that LGBT and anti-LGBT are not registered bodies. Therefore, legally, they have no members. Next, you, ma’am, in the second row?”
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