The Electric New PaperHAVE FUN WITH US OR WE'LL KILL HIM: JB robbers kidnap couple and rape girl, 19 I had no choice but to say yes
14 June 2007 SHE watched helplessly as four knife-wielding malay robbers took turns to ruthlessly beat up her boyfriend.
Then one of them gave her this chilling choice: 'Let us have fun with you, or we will kill your boyfriend.'
The woman, 19, felt she had no choice but to comply. She was then gang-raped by three of the robbers, while her semi-conscious boyfriend, 22, lay metres away.
The horrific incident happened around 10pm on Monday night in Gelang Petah in Johor, near the Second Link.
The boyfriend, who wanted to be known just as Ah Li, said that he had driven to Pontian to pick up his waitress-girlfriend to return home to Johor Baru.
They were in Gelang Petah when a silver Toyota suddenly banged into their red Proton Iswara from behind.
Ah Li, a mechanic, said he saw four burly men in the other car, so he decided not to stop.
His girlfriend, May (not her real name), said: 'The car kept flashing its high beam at us. That's when we realised something was wrong, so we accelerated to get away.'
Ah Li called his older brother on his handphone to alert him that they were being pursued. He asked his brother to get help.
Then he made the fatal mistake of turning off the expressway in Nusajaya to shake off their pursuers - and ended up on a dead-end road.
Ah Li tried frantically to turn the car around, but it broke down.
When the robbers caught up with them, Ah Li tried to call his older brother for help again, but a robber snatched away his phone.
When he tried to escape, the robbers pulled out two knives, beat him up and slashed his right leg.
They bundled their victims into the Toyota, with May seated in front between the driver and a robber holding a knife at her abdomen. Ah Li was subdued by the two other robbers in the back.
When they reached a toll booth, the robbers pressed the knives into their victims and warned them not to say anything.
The toll booth attendant did not realise anything was amiss, despite there being three people squeezed in the front.
The robbers stopped the car at a deserted clearing in Taman Tampoi Indah, some 40km away from the robbery site, reported The New Straits Times.
Said May: 'They pushed my boyfriend out and kept beating him.
'Then one of them grabbed my arm and said, 'If you let us have some fun, I won't kill your boyfriend. After we are done, I'll let you both go free.'
'Under those circumstances, I had no choice but to say yes.'
She thought she would only have to endure one rape. But after the first man was done, two others raped her as well while the last robber kept watch over her semi-conscious boyfriend.
They then left the victims and sped off.
May stumbled to the main road and tried to get help.
Thankfully, five people on their way to supper saw the crying girl and stopped their car.
They called the police and ambulance - but were asked to call other police branches, as the robbery and rapes had taken place in different jurisdictions.
Said one of the good Samaritans: 'The boyfriend was lying on the grass bleeding... We waited for half an hour, and when no police came, three of my friends sent them to the hospital in the car, while two of us followed in a taxi.'
He said he felt sickened when they passed a toll booth just 500m from where they found the victims, and saw a police patrol car.
Equally frustrated was Ah Li's older brother.
The 27-year-old salesman was in tears as he recounted his brother's distress calls.
Recalling the second call, he said his brother had shouted: 'The car has stalled!'
He then heard a commotion, then May screaming: 'They have a knife!' before the phone was snatched away.
His parents went to a police station to make a report, but no action was taken.
The brother then drove to the Gelang Petah area himself to try to look for them.
He spotted a patrol car and flagged it down. He said he begged the three police officers inside to help search for the couple, but the officers were unmoved and later drove off.
A Johor police spokesman said the unfortunate situation had arisen because the robbery and rape took place in different jurisdictions.
He said that when the public call the police, they need time to ascertain the location and situation of the crime, and delays may result.
He said the matter would be investigated thoroughly.