The 19-year-old suspects (above and below) being escorted by police to the court."
ALOR SETAR: Police have got a breakthrough in last November’s murder of three young sisters and is expected to solve the case soon.
Two 19-year-old boys were picked up from their homes in Jalan Datuk Kumbar here between 5.30pm and 11pm on Wednesday – after more than a month of investigations.
They were believed to be the last people to be with the girls on that fateful night.
Norsyafika Nadia Rusdi, 14, Nur Izzati Husna Rusdi, 12, and Puteri Nurul Akma Rusdi, three, were found dead after they went missing from their house in Kampung Alor Semela in Jalan Datuk Kumbar.
They left on a motorcycle, ridden by the eldest sibling, at 7.30pm on Nov 29 to go to Norsyafika Nadia’s employer’s house in Kampung Gelam, about 6km away. She wanted to collect her salary for cleaning bottles.
Norsyafika Nadia quit schooling last year to help her parents, who are school cleaners, to make ends meet.
When the girls failed to return home by midnight, their mother Siti Aishah Ariffin, 41, lodged a report at the Langgar police station at about 2am on Nov 30.
Norsyafika Nadia’s body was found in an empty padi plot in Kampung Alor Senibong, Jalan Langgar, at about 3.45pm on Nov 30, while the two other bodies were found floating in a Muda Agriculture Development Authority canal in Kampung Padang Petani at about 4.50pm the following day.
Apparently, police found new leads, which indicated that the three sisters were taken to an empty house in Kampung Gelam by two youths. One of them tried to rape Norsyafika Nadia but failed.
The sisters were then taken to the padi field where he tried to rape Norsyafika Nadia again. When she tried to escape, he killed her.
Nur Izzati Husna and Puteri Nurul Akma were then pushed into the canal and left to drown by the same assailant because they had witnessed their elder sister’s murder.
Kedah CID chief Asst Comm Mohd Nashir Ya said the two suspects had been remanded for seven days.
“They were picked up at their houses following a public tip-off,” he said.
“The two suspects are unemployed,” he said, adding that investigations were being conducted under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.
The girls’ father Rusdi Rani, 39, claimed that Norsyafika Nadia appeared to him in a dream on Tuesday night, with a glowing face, and gave him the name of the person who had killed her.
“She said that if I wanted to solve the case fast, I should catch the person who did it to her. She then mentioned a name,” he said when met at his house yesterday.
Rusdi said although it was quite unbelievable, he lodged a report at the Alor Setar police station the following day based on the information from his dream.
However, he declined to say if the name mentioned was among the duo arrested.
He said since the death of his daughters, he had been performing solat hajat(special prayers) nightly seeking guidance from Allah to solve the mystery of the girls’ deaths.
“I do not know the two boys who were arrested but I will not forgive the person who murdered my daughters,” he said, and hoped that the case would be solved soon with the latest arrests.
Meanwhile, the girls’ grandmother Robiah Daud, 59, said she was glad that police found a new lead to the case.
“I wish I can look at their faces and ask them why they did it to the girls. This is a serious case and what they did was so cruel,” she said.