Another transwoman murdered, cops rule out hate crime

Activist Nisha Ayub has called for the government to establish laws against hate crimes following the second murder case involving a transwoman in Bukit Tinggi, Klang.

While sharing the news of the death of the 39-year-old victim on her Facebook page today, Nisha addressed the worrying trend of brutal crimes targeted towards the transgender community.

"We need laws that protect (transgender) people, laws that emphasise hate crimes against gender identity or sexuality.

"The transgender community is the easiest target because of our visibility. I'm asking the government to please look into the issue of the transgender community not from an identity (perspective), but as human beings who deserve to be protected and given equal opportunity as others," she said.

When contacted later, Nisha claimed that the victim's body was found sprawled near a garbage disposal area at 4am yesterday.

This incident took place less than three weeks after a 32-year-old Sabahan transwoman was beaten to death by several men wielding blunt weapons.

Nisha said the victim in this latest incident also hailed from Sabah.

"The investigating officer told my staff that the victim was murdered. She sustained bruises on her face.

"I was told that she followed the perpetrator into the car," Nisha (photo) told Malaysiakini. 

Klang Selatan district police chief Shamsul Amar Ramli said police are investigating the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, and they have arrested a 55-year old man to facilitate the investigation.

Police obtained a remand order against him until next Tuesday. They also confiscated his Toyota Harrier SUV.

"Based on the preliminary investigation, the suspect claimed that he was involved in a heated argument with the victim in the car when he accused her of stealing his handphone.

"She did not admit to the alleged wrongdoing. The suspect claimed that the victim then jumped out of the car when the car was moving," Shamsul said.

The postmortem revealed that the victim died of severe head injuries as the result of falling from a moving vehicle.

She also sustained wounds on the left eyebrow, legs and on her nose as a result of the fall, but according to the report, no marks on her body showed that she was involved in a struggle.  

Shamsul said checks revealed that the victim had a record of three drug-related cases, but ruled out hate against the transgender community as the motive for the crime. 

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