Zayn Rayyan's murder: 'Not an accidental death, someone wanted the child to die' – Criminologist

SHAH ALAM – The murder of autistic child Zayn Rayyan Abdul Matiin may be planned, a criminologist says.

Shankar Durairaja said that based on the manner of death, it could be assumed that the crime might have been planned and was purposeful.

“We can assume that this crime was planned and motivated and that the suspect or perpetrator maybe someone who knows the victim, the victim’s family and where they live.

“It is not an accidental death, someone wanted the child to die,” he told Sinar Daily when contacted.

Shankar said at this point of time, Zayn’s case cannot be concluded or categorised as a crime of hate or revenge case without proper investigation results.

“We need to examine various aspects of this case, including the crime scene pattern, the motives for the crime and the profile of the suspect/ criminal, before coming to this conclusion.

Shankar pointed out that since 2020 until February 2022, a total of 1509 children had disappeared, with 85 of whom have not yet been found.

From the total, the number of missing children who were in the same age group as Zayn which is between one and 12 years old are 179.

A total of 1,424 from the number reported had been found alive and well.

“So far, we have only seen a few missing children who were brutally murdered, including 8-year-old Nur Jazlin, 9-year-old Ang May Hong, 7-year-old Tin Song Sheng and 17-year-old Audrey Melissa,".

Hence, he said, only several cases were truly criminal in nature.

He added when checking the cases of missing people, some were labelled as sudden death because the people got into accidents like falling into a drain or river while playing.

Shankar said the police found that in some cases, the kids wanted to run away from home and some even threatened their parents not to look for them.

On Dec 6, the body of six-year-old Zayn was found next to a creek about 200 metres from Idaman Apartment in Damansara Damai, more than 24 hours after he was reported missing.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said there were strangulation marks on his neck and bruises on his body which indicated the victim and the assailant had engaged in physical altercations.

He further stated that the victim was believed to have died more than 48 hours before his body was discovered.