Police need a lucky break to nab the acid splasher or splashers who have attacked more than 21 civilians since March, according to a private investigator.
Paul Ang, operations director of a private investigations firm in Kuala Lumpur, says the police face an uphill task as the serial criminal does not have a clear pattern in choosing his targets, locations and time of attack.
“The motive (for his attack) is mysterious, and might never be determined even after he is arrested,” he tells Komunitikini.
The apparent random nature of the crime would mean the police would not have sufficient leads to follow up on.
The police photofit of the suspect (right), only released some time after the first reported incident, depicts a man in his 30s in black helmet.
The photofit was produced based on eye witness accounts of the splasher.
He is said to ride a Honda EX motorcycle, and prey on pedestrians in quiet alleys.
However, the reported number plate of his motorcycle, WPV 4963, is a false registration number.
A man resembling the suspect has since voluntarily recorded a statement with the police and denied that he is the person concerned.
Ang makes a suggestion he concedes is controversial, but might prove effective given the nature of the crime: that residents form vigilante guards for their neighbourhoods.
It has since been reported that parents and residents around Bangsar are now keeping a close eye on students, and that some have established such groups that start their watch after school hours.
This first reported attack was on March 2, when eight students and a teacher of SK Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar, were splashed with acid.
Below is the record of the incidents thereafter:
March 24 Two marketing executives are splashed with acid as they are walking along Jalan Tun Sambanthan at 5.30pm.
March 25 A 25-year-old history teacher, on the way to school, is attacked near the back gate of a school in Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad at 7am.
March 26 A Frenchman and his female companion became the thirteenth and fourteenth victims of an attack with a caustic liquid by a motorcycle duo on Jalan Conlay at about 3pm.
April 2 In Jalan Mantin, Negri Sembilan, a 27-year-old woman and her 18-year-old niece are attacked by two men on a motorcycle at 9pm.
May 6 Two women are splashed with acid from behind by a motorcyclist on Jalan Pudu Lama at 9pm.
May 6 Thirty minutes later, a lawyer in her 30s is attacked near a parking lot in front of The Mall shopping centre on Jalan Putra.
May 7 A woman and her one-year-old baby are standing in the house compound in Persiaran Titiwangsa when the splasher rides by and attacks them at 3pm.
May 13 A woman in her 30s is splashed with corrosive acid when she is in her car near Section 10, Wangsa Maju.
May 24 The splasher struck again at Central Market when a woman in her Myvi was splashed with pink fluid on rear window.
(Photo and additional information courtesy of www.tekkaus.com)
The map shows a record of splasher’s attacks:
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Jimmy Tan
