Murdered jogger was to go to Germany
By TUNKU SHAHARIAH
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Gaik Yap
SUNGAI PETANI: Marketing executive Chee Gaik Yap, who was raped and brutally murdered while jogging in her neighbourhood, was supposed to leave for Germany next week.
Gaik Yap, 25, was selected by her company to go for a few months' training, her father Chee Ah Sau, 49, said.
“Gaik Yap had a bright and promising future. She was a brilliant student and an obedient daughter.
“It doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone want to kill my daughter?” asked an emotional Ah Sau at the Yee Fong Association funeral parlour in Jalan Sekerat here yesterday.
His wife Lim Kim Nai, 48, was distraught with grief to speak to anyone.
Gaik Yap was the third of their six children.
“We have yet to get over the shock. It’s difficult to speak or even think of anything to say,” Ah Sau added.
Gaik Yap, who was jogging in Taman Ria Jaya around 6pm last Saturday, was found dead less than nine hours later.
The Universiti Utara Malaysia graduate is believed to have been tailed by her assailant, kidnapped, raped and killed elsewhere before her body was dumped near the housing estate.
Scores of friends, colleagues and relatives turned up at the funeral parlour to pay their last respects.
Gaik Yap will be cremated at the Siamese Temple in Sungai Pasir here at 2pm today.
Her elder sister broke down and screamed at photographers as they were taking photographs of her father receiving Tanjung Dawai assemblyman Datuk Arzmi Hamid at the funeral parlour.
Gaik Yap’s friend Goh Tsing Ew, an insurance unit sales manager, described her as a hardworking and friendly girl.
GRIEVING PARENTS: Ah Sau and Lim mourning their loss at the Yee Fong Association funeral parlour in Sungai Petani Monday.
Goh, who had known Gaik Yap for about six months, said she had only resumed her jogging on Saturday.
“She told me she had been too busy to jog for some time. Usually, her mother tagged along but that day, she was busy and had asked her younger daughter to accompany Gaik Yap instead,” he added.
Kuala Muda OCPD Law Hong Soon said more than 10 witnesses have been questioned.
In Petaling Jaya, MCA Youth urged the police to upgrade the community policing scheme to ensure safety in housing estates.
Its chairman Datuk Liow Tiong Lai also urged the police to ensure that the murderer was brought to justice swiftly.