Selva Kumar - serial rapist from a family of educationists

Selva Kumar Subbiah

GEORGE TOWN: Selva Kumar Subbiah (pic), a convicted serial rapist in Canada who is set to return to Malaysia in two days after serving his 24-year jail term, is from a family of educationists.

His late father was a senior education officer in the Penang Education Department while a late brother was a teacher from a primary school in the state.

This was revealed by a former neighbour to Selva Kumar’s family in Jalan Sungkai here.

The 77-year-old man who declined to be named, said he knew Selva Kumar’s family well as both he and the latter’s late brother were teachers.

“We were not very close but I knew the family. Selva Kumar, a former Penang Free School boy, was courteous and respectful, and never displayed any tendencies to the contrary,” said the neighbour when met at his home in Jalan Sungkai yesterday.

He remembered Selva Kumar bringing home a Canadian girl when he came back for a visit in the 1980s.

“There were only four Indian families living along this road, and it created quite a stir to see a white girl in our midst,” the neighbour recalled.

A relative said Selva Kumar, 57, was the third among four siblings, having two older brothers and a younger sister.

“His father died years ago and the mother is very sickly and is being taken care of by the sister,” said the relative who also declined to be named.