Submitted by ayu on Monday, November 1st, 2010 
HE felt he was in deep sin. He said he was having nightmares about his sexual contact with boys.
He wanted to acknowledge his crimes and apologise to those he hurt or betrayed, the minors he touched inappropriately and the parents who trusted him with their children.
Single and aged 53, the award-winning former Press photographer said he wanted to change the way he lived and make amends to face society when the nightmare ended.
This was the plea of a confessed child molester who sought my assistance to surrender to the police and receive psychiatric care for sexually abusing at least 10 boys.
The boys, aged between nine and 14, are all residents of Rumah Victory, a children’s and youth renewal life centre, off Jalan Klang Lama.
The ex-Pressman was a volunteer at this centre from early 2009 to mid-September this year.
I have known him since the 1980s when he was a photographer with a newspaper and I was then news editor of The Malay Mail and later in the early 90s of the NST’s metro section City X-Tra.
After my last contact with him more than a year ago, he called me on Oct 13 offering an exclusive on “horror” stories at Rumah Victory.
It had all the ingredients of a major scandal involving alleged sexual, physical and mental abuse, minors running drugs, blackmail, photographs of boys in the nude, gay relationships and charity scams.
He said there were 21 boys at the home aged between nine and 16 - more than half of whom are from "normal" - with parents - families.
On Oct 14, he sent me an e-mail, providing details about the alleged activities and I initiated an investigation.
I then met him few days later with a 16-year-old boy who had both come to “tell-all”. It was here that he confessed to molesting boys at the home.
At a discussion on another day, he admitted molesting seven boys aged between nine and 14 and disclosed startling revelations and allegations.
On Oct 25, he sent me an e-mail giving names of eight boys and details of the indecent acts. The number of victims rose to 10 when he remembered two more names when his police statement was being recorded.
Eight of the incidents, he said, occurred at the home when he stayed there overnight to take care of the children when all staff were away.
Two more cases took place in his house, off Jalan Kuchai Lama – one after watching a porn movie.
In that same e-mail he also claimed certain staff, whose names he listed, had also sexually abused some 10 children there from 2005 till this year.
He claimed one man used money to lure at least three boys for sexual purposes.
Given the seriousness of the matter, I decided to make a police report against my ex-colleague on Saturday.
I also handed over to the police numerous e-mail, totalling more than 20,000 words, that he had sent me.
When I informed him that I had made a report against him, he came forward voluntarily to give a statement to the police.
The statement also included allegations of boys at the centre being used as drug runners and drug trafficking activities.
He feared he was going to be blackmailed by certain people at the centre who he claimed had photographs and video of him molesting the children.
Claiming to have been sexually abused from age seven by neighbourhood kids and adults who later gave him sweets, he sought my assistance to surrender to the police, saying he did not want the boys to turn out like him in their latter years.
He disclosed that in the 1990s, he trawled the Internet and secured gay sex dates after a failed relationship with his girlfriend.
For a person who indulged in indecent liberties and who faces serious sexual crime charges, turning himself over to the police was a rare sight.
He made his intentions clear to me during interviews and in an e-mail, he said: “Please save the children fast. I will surrender to the police without any condition.”
In another e-mail, he wrote: “Please suggest a date/balai (police station) for me to surrender. Please save these souls fast.”
Clearly, his confession is bound to be viewed by many as an attempt to gain favour with the police, the court, community and the victims’ families.
The families of the boys will obviously react with disgust because of the extent of betrayal this volunteer has exacted upon them.
Their rage would be understandable because, to them, this man gained the trust and loyalty of kids – and then preyed on them.
Still, the boys’ parents would now be left to wonder why they found nothing suspicious with their kids.
Frankie D'Cruz is editor-at-large of The Malay Mail. The multiple award-winning journalist can be contacted at frankie@mmail.com.my
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