PETALING JAYA – Anxious parents living at the Idaman Apartments in Damansara Damai are taking precautions for their children after the murder of Zayn Rayyan Abdul Matiin, an autistic 6-year-old boy.
Until police find a suspect, those interviewed said they have stopped allowing their young children to walk alone to school and back.
His disappearance on December 5 after playing at a playground just outside his apartment block, had parents here worried that their children are no longer safe being alone outside their flats.
The discovery of his body in a shallow stream about 100m from the apartment the next night has also left them feeling uneasy.
Noraini Ahmad, 51, told Scoop that she no longer allows her youngest son, Muhammad Zulhakimi Zamri, 11, to walk alone when he comes home from school.
“I was really affected by the death of Zayn Rayyan. When my son goes to school, I don’t worry because he goes with his father who goes to work.
“But now after school, I will walk and wait for him in front of the school around 1pm to make sure he gets home safely.
“Let me go to the trouble of walking to pick him up, the important thing is that he is safe,” said Noraini who is a homemaker.
Another resident Norasilah Bahudin, 38, who lives in Blok S also said she has started to personally drop off and pick up her third child at the nearby primary school.
“The distance from home to school is 10 minutes. If we get a little delayed, something bad could happen.
“After Zayn Rayyan’s death, I also notice that many parents have become more careful about their children’s safety,” she said.
The boy’s next-door neighbour, who wants to be known as Arash, also told Scoop that he now brought his children along with him wherever he went since the murder.
“I’ve lived here since 2016 and I never had to padlock my house grille at night. Just locking the front door was enough. But since the murder, every night either me or my wife will double check the grille and ensure that we padlocked it.
“Sometimes when I’m sleeping at night, I wake up in a jolt thinking about the grille and whether I used the padlock,” said Arash, 39, who runs a food stall.
He also no longer feels comfortable letting his children roam freely around the block or at the playground.
“I now bring all my kids with me, wherever, even when I go to work. I’m not leaving them out of my sight.”
Arash described Zayn Rayyan as a good boy who never left his mother’s side.
A resident who lives across Zayn Rayyan’s block, Block R, said she has had trouble falling asleep and waking up more frequently in the night since the boy’s body was discovered nearby.
“I’m always looking over my shoulder if I park my car slightly further away,” said the woman who did not want to be named.
“The ambiance of this place has completely changed. I don’t feel safe letting my kids play in the playground without my supervision.”
“Usually I sleep early, but since the murder I sleep at around 1am or 2am, and I still wake up at night. This case has affected me deeply.
“I did not think I would be so emotionally distressed. But Zayn Rayyan was just a child, and he had autism. Who could have done such a thing?” she said.
Several times while talking to Scoop, she said she would worry until the murder suspect is caught.
The Idaman Apartments, which has 18 blocks and 2,484 units, have been crawling with police since Zayn Rayyan’s body was found Wednesday night and the reclassification of the case from sudden death to murder the following morning.
The post-mortem had revealed injuries on his body and signs of asphyxiation.
K9 unit dogs have been deployed for house-to-house searches and to a shed used as a storeroom within the apartment complex and just 50 m from where Zayn Rayyan was found.
Police also collected DNA samples from 228 apartment residents on Saturday night and inspected 5,628 residents.
Yesterday afternoon, Zayn Rayyan’s parents, Zaim Ikhwan and Ismanira Abdul Manaf, returned temporarily to the family’s flat in Block R.
A police forensic unit also went to the home for about 40 minutes and collected DNA samples from the family home.
Police have questioned a total of 48 people to date, and are still awaiting the pathologist’s report. – December 11, 2023