Gripevine

JUSTICE delayed is justice denied is a popular legal maxim that means if legal redress is not forthcoming in a timely manner, it is akin to having no redress at all. I believe the friends and family members of marketing executive Chee Gaik Yap who was raped and murdered in 2006 would heartily agree with this. On Aug 9, almost ten years after her tragic demise, businessman Shahril Jaafar was sentenced to death by the Alor Star High Court for Chee's murder. Despite the weight of the crime that he was accused off, Shahril almost got away with it on two occasions. The first was when he skipped police bail and left for Perth, Australia, where he obtained permanent resident status. He was rearrested six years later upon his return on Jan 17, 2012. He was charged two weeks later and stood trial, only to be acquitted by the High Court on June 25, 2013, without his defence being called. In an emotionally charged scene, moments after the High Court discharged a...

IT is said that one would do anything for one's own flesh and blood, that the love of a parent for a child knows no bounds. That a father or mother would make great sacrifices for the wellbeing of their children, but does this great love extend to spilling the blood of another? Is it called love when the life of one child is sacrificed so another can thrive? Does the sacrifices a parent makes for a child extend to slaughtering the child of another? In a tale filled with more evil than love, one man had no qualms about luring a little boy to meet his end in a cruel manner, in the hopes that it might cure his sick teenage son who appeared to be possessed by a ghost. According to Kodai Harijan, his 18-year-old son Bijay frequently fell ill. However this time around the ailing teenager who appeared to be possessed by a spirit, demanded for human flesh. This incident took place in a village in southwest Nepal bordering India, where most of the populace are illiterate and p...