A convicted serial rapist who is suspected of attacking up to 1,000 women and girls around Toronto arrived in his native Malaysia this morning after being deported from Canada.
A Toronto Star photo of Selva Kumar Subbiah, 56, took the entire front page of the Malay Mail newspaper, with the headline, “BEAST RETURNS.”
Subbiah’s return came amid calls in Malaysia for a sex-offender registry.
He slipped past reporters and photographers after arriving at Kuala Lumpur at 7:30 a.m. local time Tuesday by Qatar Air on a connecting flight from Doha, the capital of Qatar, escorted by Canada Border Services Agency officers, the Mail reported.
Subbiah was interviewed by police and welcomed by an older brother and two other relatives, the paper said.
His family told reporters that Subbiah will be staying in Kuala Lumpur for now, but declined to say what his ultimate destination would be.
Subbiah was born in the northwestern state of Perak, the third of four siblings in a family of teachers.
His location will be monitored by police, Insp. Gen. Tan Sri Khalid told reporters, adding that Subbiah is a free man and can travel whereever he wants inside the country.
However, officials for the northern state of Sabah said that he’s not welcome in their territory.
His arrival in Malaysia came eight days after he was ordered out of Canada following an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in which board member Andrew Laut called him “the worst offender and the highest risk that has ever come before me in my career.”
Subbiah was convicted at two separate trials of drugging and sexually assaulting 30 women, but a lawyer for the Canada Border Services Agency told the hearing as many as 500 to 1,000 could have been attacked.
He expressed no remorse at the hearing.
At a hearing in June 2016, he was found ineligible for parole because he was considered “likely to commit an offence causing death or serious harm to another person.”
Subbiah was arrested Jan. 28 when he became eligible for mandatory release after serving his entire prison sentence.
His return has been accompanied by a statement from The Women, Family and Community Development organization saying there’s an urgent need for a sex offender registry.
That stance has been backed by Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed, the Mail reported.
Police Inspector-General Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters Subbiah would be monitored “from a distance,” although there was no specific law to regulate the movements of ex-prisoners like him.
Psychologist Hariyati Shahrima Abdul Majid told the Mail that the police position doesn’t reassure her. She said there should be “systematic close monitoring” of Subbiah to keep women safe from him.
Some members of the public are also wary.
“I know that everyone should be given a second chance but I’m afraid for my safety, especially since he is reported to be not sorry for what he has done,” a woman told the Mail, asking that her name not be published.
Subbiah unsuccessfully sought to block the Star from photographing him at his hearing last week.
The Star argued that it was important for his victims to know details of his case and what he looks like now.
Subbiah was granted student and visitors’ visas after arriving in Canada in 1980. He didn’t graduate from any post-secondary course, but claimed to have studied at McMaster University in Hamilton and Ryerson University in Toronto.
He posed as a model agent or movie talent scout during many of his assaults, often using the names Richard Wild and Ryan Hunter. He also posed as a professional dancer, a lawyer or a diplomat.
He was also involved in the exotic pet trade, his trials heard.
While behind bars, Subbiah used a string of aliases and a female accomplice on the outside to con women to send him nude photos and gifts, police said.
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