Convicted serial rapist gives newsmen the slip at KLIA

SEPANG: Despite a battery of journalists waiting for him at the KL International Airport, Selva Kumar Subbiah managed to give them the slip.

More than 20 members of the media had been waiting since 6.30am yesterday, hoping to spot the Penangite.

But Selva Kumar, who flew in at about 7.30am via Qatar Airways after a transit in Doha, got past them unseen.

Many police personnel, believed to be from Bukit Aman, were seen entering and exiting the international arrival hall.

They recorded a statement from the 57-year-old convicted serial rapist who was deported from Canada after serving out his jail term.

After that Selva Kumar is believed to have taken an alternative route, likely via the domestic arrival hall, at about 9.50am to dodge the journalists.

Press photographers and videographers were left frustrated at missing the opportunity to capture his return to Malaysian soil.

A local news portal quoted a person close to Selva Kumar’s family as saying that he was escorted by three Canadian officials and was received at the airport by his brother.

Photographs published on the portal showed a bespectacled and bearded Selva Kumar in jeans, black sweatshirt and navy blue cap.

Bukit Aman CID director Comm Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said Selva Kumar left the airport after his statement was recorded.

“We were told that he plans to stay at a family member’s home in Kuala Lumpur for now,” he said.

Though Comm Mohmad doubted that Malaysians would resort to harming or injuring Selva Kumar, he said the police would be prepared for any situation.

“While we are aware of the public’s concerns, we also take into account his rights as a Malaysian citizen. He has served his sentence in Canada and is a free man now.

“We will monitor him but we cannot go into detail,” he said.

In George Town, police chief Comm Datuk Wira Chuah Ghee Lye reiterated that Selva Kumar will not be arrested unless he commits a crime.

“There are no provisions for us to simply detain him. We also cannot restrict his movements or stop him from coming to Penang if he wants to, as he is a citizen.

“We, however, will investigate should we receive any report against him,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said last week that police would closely monitor Selva Kumar after his return.

He also said that police were looking into the possibility of recruiting community groups to help keep an eye on him.

Selva Kumar is the third of four siblings. He has two older brothers and a younger sister, and is from a family of educationists in Penang.

His late father was a senior officer in the Penang Education Department while a brother, now deceased, taught at a primary school in the state.

In 1992, Selva Kumar was convicted of 19 counts of sexual assault, 28 counts of administering a drug or noxious substance, 10 counts of assault and other charges, including extortion.

He had unsuccessfully tried to block Canadian newspaper Toronto Star from publishing details of his parole hearing in June last year and his photo, arguing that it would be dangerous for him.

He had claimed that he would be a victim of discrimination in Malaysia because he was Jewish.

The newspaper had argued that it was important for his victims to know the details of the case and what he looked like now.