Man held over teen’s death

Thursday October 28, 2010

Man held over teen’s death

PETALING JAYA: A foreigner has been remanded in connection with the death of an autistic teenager, who is believed to have been abused and sodomised at a centre for the disabled.

Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed said the 26-year-old man was picked up at Section 3 near here at 2pm on Tues­day and police obtained a seven-day remand for him yesterday.

The man was a caretaker at the centre.

Too much to bear: Chin crying as she follows the hearse carrying Goh’s (inset) body at the funeral in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

It was later found that he did not have any work permit.

“We have recorded statements from several witnesses and more people may be questioned before we wrap up investigations,” he said.

ACP Arjunaidi said investigations revealed that the centre was not registered with the Welfare Depart­ment.

It is learnt that the shelter in Section 18, believed to have started operations about three years ago, has two caretakers looking after 19 mentally-disabled patients.

The funeral of Brian Goh Kah Heng, 19, was conducted at 10am yesterday and he was buried at the Lutheran Gardens cemetery in Kampung Melayu, Subang.

His mother, Elizabeth Chin, 50, said she noticed there were bruises on her son during her last visit to the centre two weeks ago but was told by the caretaker that the boy had fallen.

Goh, who was sent to the home in May, had cerebral palsy and autism.

On Sunday, the family received a telephone call from the centre, inform­ing them that Goh was having breathing difficulties.

The family quickly took him to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A post-mortem revealed that he had a ruptured spleen and severe injuries to his anus.

Doctors also found severe internal injuries and bruises on the teen.

It was learnt that police recovered a metal rod from the centre which could have been used in abusing the victim.

The case is being investigated as a murder.