Alarmed over the spate of rape and murder cases involving...

Alarmed over the spate of rape and murder cases involving girls, angry Malaysians called for severe action against the culprits - including imposing a mandatory death sentence for violent crimes against girls."The death penalty is the only fitting punishment for such crimes," said the head of Penang's Malaysian Chinese Association women's wing, Ms Ooi Siew Kim.Women's Crisis Centre member Loh Cheng Kooi said: "Every woman and girl must be guaranteed their safety against such attacks." Two brutal cases of rape and murder had jolted Malaysians the previous week.Nurul Hanis, 16, was raped, sodomised and strangled with the strap of her schoolbag in a plantation just 100 m from her house in Malacca. A five-year-old girl, Siti Nadira Budah, was molested, then died of suffocation when her face was pushed into the mud near her home in Sandakan, Sabah.