Murder believed to be linked to a kidnapping
In grief: Family and friends of Sameera (inset) wailing as they cremate her body at the Hindu crematorium in Karak.
PETALING JAYA: Transgender Sameera Krishnan, who was brutally murdered, was the main witness in her own kidnapping case two years ago.
The case is set for hearing at the Shah Alam court early next month.
The two men accused in the case, P. Ganesan and S. Vegeniswaran – along with two others still at large – have been charged under Section 3(1) of the Kidnapping Act (1961), which carries the mandatory death sentence.
Sameera, 26, whose legal name was K. Selamparasan, was rescued by police when her captors’ car was involved in a minor accident with another vehicle at the Sungai Rasau toll.
An argument ensued between the drivers of both vehicles and when police came in to diffuse the situation, they found her tied up in the back seat.
When contacted, lawyer Gerard Lazarus, who is representing both Ganesan and Vegeniswaran, confirmed the case but declined to comment further.
A senior police officer from the South Klang district police headquarters also confirmed the case as well as the fact that Sameera was the main witness.
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Other sources said she had been considering withdrawing the report against two accused, which would have seen the case dropped.
Sameera, who worked at a flower shop, was found dead with a gunshot wound and her body mutilated in Jalan Pasar, Kuantan, early Thursday morning after she went out to buy food.
She was shot in the posterior and had four fingers on her right hand severed. She also had severe head injuries.
During her funeral in Karak yesterday, which was also Sameera’s birthday, relatives and friends were emotional as they cremated her body.
Family members were too distraught to be interviewed.
Sameera’s brother Ramesh, 32, asked reporters for the family to be given space as they were still grieving.
The grisly murder has also sent shockwaves through the local transgender community here.
Transgender rights activist Nisha Ayub remembered Sameera – fondly known as Meera – as a “beautiful and joyful” person.
Nisha, who was herself previously based in Klang, remembers counselling Sameera some time back.
“The way she was killed so brutally is similar to the level of violence other transgender women have experienced before.
“This is a case of hate crime,” said Nisha, the founder of transgender rights group, SEED Foundation.
A survey by transgender rights group, Justice For Sisters, had found that at least 67% of Malaysian transgender women experienced some form of physical or emotional abuse after switching their sex.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/02/25/murder-believed-to-be-linked-to-a-kidnapping-sameera-was-main-witness-in-abduction-case/#QLmuxhszD4yAh08Z.99
‘Laughter and smiles stopped after the abduction’
PETALING JAYA: Murdered transgender Sameera Krishnan had always been generous with her smiles and laughter until one fateful day in February 2015.
A close friend said Sameera was abducted on Feb 9 and subjected to a very cruel and heinous torture.
“They bound her hands and feet with barbed wire before sexually assaulting her with bottles. They also used a pair of pliers to twist and tear her nipples,” claimed the friend.
The friend further alleged that the four men who abducted her also gang-raped her and brutally beat her up.
“Since that incident, she stopped smiling and started to distance herself from her friends,” she said.
It is also learnt that Sameera had allegedly been abducted due to a financial dispute between her captors and one of her close friends.
Immediately after news of her brutal murder went public, Sameera’s Facebook page was flooded with messages of condolences from her friends.
Almost everyone called her a “beautiful soul” and wrote that she would be dearly missed.
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One of them, Joena Shivani Thomas Nathan, who lives in Singapore, wrote a moving tribute, saying how much her friendship had meant to her.Joena Shivani, also a transgender, wrote that Sameera had been a “person like you and me.”
Make-up artist K.S. Bala, 31, remembers Sameera as a polite and soft-spoken person who was well-liked by all those who knew her.
Saying that he first met her about eight years ago, Bala found her to be good-natured and very religious.
Sameera, he claimed, became withdrawn after one of her close friends, also a transgender, committed suicide in 2011.
“They were very close and her death was a big emotional blow to Sameera,” said Bala, adding that she became even more distant after her alleged abduction.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/02/25/laughter-and-smiles-stopped-after-the-abduction/#OryFEVRFFYM544AC.99
