Deepavali with a difference

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FOR one former teacher, the ultimate price to pay for causing the death of her husband is not being locked up in prison, but for her daughter to be forcibly taken away from her.

Jaya (not her real name) had hoped to see her 10-year-old daughter during the Tapah prison’s Deepavali open house on Tuesday, but deep down, she knew it was wishful thinking.

“My in-laws, who have custody of my daughter, will never allow her to see me,” she said.

Jaya, 33, said the last time she saw her daughter was in 2006, following her husband’s muder in Cameron Highlands.

In tears: Jaya (right) crying upon seeing her mother during the gathering at the Tapah Prison. Her mother also broke down during the meeting.

“Now I am left to imagine how she looks like and I do not know how she is,” she said in a voice choked with emotion, adding that she does not receive letters or phone calls from her daughter.

Recalling the day of her husband’s death, Jaya said she had called her cousin and several other friends to teach her husband a lesson.

“However, a commotion ensued and my husband was stabbed to death with a knife,” she said.

Jaya, who has a degree in business administration, was sentenced to 14 years jail.

Touching: A family member hugging a prisoner at the gathering.

In the hopes of starting life afresh after completing her jail sentence, she said she is learning how to sew in prison.

“I hope to set up my own business in Kuala Lumpur where my mother is staying,” she added.

Fellow inmate Muthu, who is serving a 10-year sentence for a robbery in Dungun, Terengganu in 2006, vows to turn over a new leaf.

The 25-year-old from Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur said he had been friends with bad hats from age 17.

He was also involved with the notorious Ali Boy Gang and was sent to Simpang Renggam and later detained in Dungun under the Emergency (Public Order and Crime Prevention) Ordinance.

While in Dungun, Muthu said he committed a robbery at a jewellery shop.

“But I gave myself up to the police as everyone there knew I was the one who committed the crime,” he said.

The prison’s rehabilitation officer Kpl K. Vijaykumaran said selected prisoners were provided with Deepavali greeting cards for them to write whatever they wanted and present it to their families.

He said 11 were chosen for the privilege due to good behaviour and for following their rehabilitation programme diligently.