INJURED: DrJuanda looks on as his wife Shanti shows reporters a slight cut she sustained on her hand while being bound by the robbers.
DETECTIVE WORK: Forensics police personnel dusting the kitchen at DrJuanda’s residence for clues.
KUCHING: Perlis State Mufti Dato Dr Juanda Jaya and his wife were bound and robbed by two armed men who broke into their residence at Jalan Bakti, off Jalan Sultan Tengah, early yesterday morning.
The hour-long robbery saw the samurai sword-wielding robbers, who were clad in Tshirt and jeans, carting away cash, jewellery and other valuables worth an estimated RM40,000.
The incident occurred around 4 am when the duo entered the 41-year-old Mufti’s double storey semi-detached house by forcing open the kitchen door.
Their presence, however, was detected by a middle-aged domestic helper, who came out of her room on the lower f loor to check and stumbled on the pair who struck her in the mouth causing her to lose a tooth and was hit on the back of the head with the sword handle.
The robbers then stuffed her mouth with toilet paper, which they apparently carried with them, and bound her hands behind her back with rope before ransacking the living room.
After more than 30 minutes below, the duo headed upstairs to the master bedroom and gently knocked on the locked door to trick those inside into opening it.
The ploy worked as Dr Juanda’s wi fe, Shant i Ahmad Bulan, thought one of their children was calling for her and got up to open the door, only for the robbers to burst inside.
Relating the encounter, Dr Juanda, who arrived back here last week to celebrate Hari Raya, said the robbers spoke in a calm and somewhat apologetic tone, saying they only wanted money and did not intend to cause harm.
He also said he had no intention of putting up a struggle as he was concerned about the safety of his two youngest children in their room, as well as five older ones in the other bedrooms, who slept through the incident.
With their hands bound behind their backs with towels, the couple watched as the robbers spent the next 10 minutes ransacking their bedrooms of cash, jewellery and three mobile phones worth about RM40,000 in total.
The intruders, who even complied with Dr Juanda’s request for the return of his wallet, and SIM and memory cards from the mobile phones, went on to apologise for their actions prior to escaping by climbing over the front gate of the house.
Police personnel, led by district CID chief DSP Lim Bak Phai, were present at the scene later the same morning to investigate following a report lodged by Dr Juanda.