Rabidin Satir, or commonly known as Rambo Bentong was on the front page of almost every newspaper. He was sentenced to death after his final appeal failed, but it appears that he may yet escape his punishment.
With the recent news of the government plans to abolish the mandatory death penalty for 11 offences, the move could possibly spare the lives of dangerous criminals, and this includes Rabidin himself.
According to MStar, Rabidin Satir was sentenced to death by Temerloh High Court after he was convicted of 7 different rapes and murder in 2014. This includes the crime of killing a teenage girl in 2009, Annie Kok. Rabidin failed to plead against his death sentence.
Tan Siew Lin, 57, mother to Annie Kok, said that she won’t rest until the culprit is sentenced to death. She wanted the culprit to be hanged as she can only be at peace once it has been done. Tan added that every 6th of June, Annie’s birthday, she would cry alone in the bathroom thinking of her daughter.
Annie’s stepfather, Sew Kok Wee, 63, said she would have been 28-years-old this year. Despite the title stepfather, Sew felt the pain too and claimed if the killer is not hanged, there won’t be any closure and the family would never be at peace.
The family’s lawyer, Christine Teng said the family thinks the committee has made up their mind to abolish the penalty, and they have been blocked from going into the Parliament to submit their petition.
Tan Siew Lin and her husband were not the only relatives of victims who wished for the death sentence to be carried out. Other victims’ families joined them to stand for their family members lost to Rabidin’s doings. A benefactor, Tan Sri Robert Phang, urged the call for a public referendum to vote against the abolishment. He finished off by saying,
“Malaysia should not be a haven for criminals to escape their crimes.“
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