It’s like straight from a psychological thriller, as retired policeman Brian Thomas remembers the shocking tales he heard from victims of the Malaysian serial rapist.
PETALING JAYA: A retired police officer who was tasked with investigating Malaysian serial rapist Selva Kumar Subbiah more than two decades ago has warned that he still poses a threat upon his return to Malaysia.
“If he were to stay in Malaysia or God knows where, even at his age, will he continue? Yes,” said Brian Thomas, who alongside with his partner Peter Duggan helped nabbed the now 56-year old whom Canadian authorities have said was the country’s most dangerous sex offender.
“We have to remember, this is not about sex. It’s about power and control, and he had total power and total control over his women,” Thomas told CanCrime, a crime blog run by award-winning Canadian investigative journalist, Rob Tripp.
Selva Kumar is expected to return to Malaysia this Sunday, after completing 24 years in a Canadian prison.
In 1992, he was found guilty of 19 counts of sexual assault, 28 counts of administering a drug or noxious substance, 10 counts of various kinds of assault and a dozen other charges, including extortion.
During a parole board meeting last week, Selva Kumar said he had a “structured release plan” for his freedom in Malaysia as well as “strong family support”.
“Bullshit,” said Thomas when asked about the assurance, but added that he was aware of Selva Kumar’s affluent background, “a wealthy family in Malaysia”.
Worst ever
In the 35-minute audio interview with Cancrime, Thomas recalls shocking tales of horror from more than 500 women the police had interviewed.
He said the case involving Selva Kumar was the worst he had seen in his 30-year career of dealing with dangerous criminals.
“On (a scale of) one to 10, I’d put him at 15.”
Thomas recalled an incident he discovered during the course of investigations, one in which Selva Kumar had almost convinced a 13-year old girl, who he tried to procure for prostitution, to commit suicide by jumping off from the rooftop of a building.
“(He told her), wait till I get down there so I can watch,” he said, adding that the girl suddenly changed her mind.
This was among 75 crimes Selva Kumar was charged with.
1,500 names and pictures
He said many of Selva Kumar’s victims had their lives torn apart, with some of them going through suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse and attempted suicide as a result of the trauma of their experience.
He said when Selva Kumar’s house was raided, police discovered photographs and videos of his victims, and several books including “one big black-and-red book”, in which he “rated” each of them.
Thomas estimated some 1,500 names of women and their pictures were found on the wall.
He said police interviewed more than 500 women from Selva’s lists, and 120 of them had agreed to testify in court against Selva.
He said the victims were young ladies, who among others included wives of police officers, lawyers and journalists.
He said many of the victims were not aware they were drugged after they were lured into thinking he was a modelling agent.
Rich pretty accomplice
One victim, said Thomas, had described to police how she fell into a coma before waking up to find herself being raped.
“Water was dripping on her and she felt like she was under a waterfall. And then her eyes opened. He was on top of her violating her and there was sweat dripping on her face.
“And then she passed out again as a result of the drug,” he said, adding that he would then take them back home before the victims would wake up thinking they had a “bad dream”.
Another victim related to police how one morning she woke up to find what looked like someone’s pubic hair on her bed.
Thomas said Selva Kumar had a female accomplice “who came from a very rich, affluent family”.
He described the accomplice as “a young, attractive, blonde, well-dressed woman” who went by the nickname “Laura”, and who would approach young women to invite them to work for her boss.
However, the female accomplice was not charged as she had agreed to testify against him, much to the police’s disappointment, said Thomas.
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