Malaysian authorities faced increasing pressure yesterday to
explain how they handled the case of the convicted paedophile Richard Huckle
after British officials said they told their counterparts in Kuala Lumpur about
his suspected behaviour more than 18 months ago.
Huckle, 30, was detained when he arrived at London’s Gatwick
airport from Malaysia in December 2014, and was charged with sexually abusing
dozens of children for at least nine years, mostly in Kuala Lumpur. He was
sentenced to life in prison on Monday.
“I believe if indeed the Malaysian authorities failed to
take reparatory steps since 2014 then an immediate investigation must be
launched…,” said PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.
Nurul Izzah said results of the investigation must be
presented to Parliament.
“A serious breach of security of our borders, religious
institutions and havens for underprivileged children have taken placed and we
must never allow this breach to repeat in future,” she said.
The Malaysian police have said they were only told about
Huckle by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in April this year.
Huckle, dubbed the UK’s worst paedophile by the British
media, was sentenced for abusing 23 Malaysian and Cambodian children and
babies, including one aged just six months.
He is believed to have targeted nearly 200 children over a
span of nine years, posing as a photographer, English teacher and western
philanthropist to gain access to impoverished families, mostly in Malaysia.
Sharmila Sekaran, chairman of the welfare group Voice of the
Children (VoC), said if the Malaysian authorities had been informed in 2014 and
there had been no response then they delayed providing help and counseling to
the abused children.
That, though, was much less significant than the failure to
detect Huckle’s behaviour over nine years.
“The fact is that from 2006 to 2014 he was here abusing our
children. Why did we not know? Why did we not pick him up? We need to do some
serious, honest soul-searching,” she said.
“This was systematic rampant abuse in our own backyard – how
could it have gone undetected until someone else informed us?”
Asked why the authorities may not have responded after first
being informed, she said: “Why they didn’t do anything – I don’t know. Maybe
they didn’t know what they could do.”
Information shared
NCA deputy director, Andrew Brennan, told reporters after
Huckle’s sentencing on Monday that the British had informed the Malaysian
authorities of Huckle’s case in November 2014 and shared “all the information
and all of the intelligence” that they had on Huckle at that time.
“Let me assure you we have met Malaysian authorities on a
number of occasions throughout autumn of 2014,” Brennan said.
“When it became clear they (Malaysia) didn’t have sufficient
evidence to arrest him, we made the decision that we would arrest him in
December 2014,” Brennan said outside of London’s Old Bailey court.
The British High Commission also told Reuters in a statement
on Tuesday that it had been engaged with the Malaysians since 2014.
“Where British nationals commit such offences, anywhere in
the world, we will work to bring offenders to justice and ensure victims get
the right protection and treatment,” said a spokesman for the British High
Commission.
“International cooperation is critical for that. Our
engagement with the Malaysian authorities on the Richard Huckle case, since
2014, reflects that.”
The Malaysian police did not immediately respond to a
request for comments on the British High Commission’s statement.
Ong Chin Lan, a senior officer in the police’s Sexual, Women
and Child Investigation Division, told state news agency Bernama that the NCA
did not provide any information on Huckle’s case because he had been on trial.
Huckle, who awarded himself points for his crimes, had
boasted on the dark web that those from poor communities made easier victims
than well-to-do westerners. He filmed and photographed the rape and abuse of
children, and shared it online with paedophiles worldwide.
According to a leader from an Indian community that Huckle
frequented, the Malaysian police only visited them for the first time on
Monday.
The Malaysian police said in a statement on Tuesday that
they are working with the NCA and a Malaysian ministry in charge of children’s
rights to identify and provide support to Huckle’s victims and their families.
– REUTERS
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