KUALA LUMPUR: Little did residents of Rumah Panjang Taman Tun Dr Ismail realise that the soft spoken and timid man who had stayed in their village for a year would turn out to be a monster who had abused up to 200 children during his stay in Malaysia.
Those who crossed paths with Richard Huckle said never in their wildest imagination would they have pictured him as a sex predator who targeted children as young as 6 months old.
Always with a camera hung around his neck, Huckle’s presence in the tight-knit community also did not raise any alarms among the people there.
Residents recalled that he was always seen walking around the small village and going to a Hindu temple there, mixing around as though he was a local.
Although Huckle had never raised any suspicion in the community, his presence had always raised questions for Siva (not his real name).
Siva said he met Huckle at a Christian welfare home in Setapak a few years before the latter came to the neighbourhood, adding that the incident was not a pretty encounter.
“I remember him because the welfare home manager was cursing at him in Tamil to me, my wife and our two friends. Huckle just stood there in front of us.
“The manager said Huckle was a troublemaker. He was volunteering there and had caused many arguments among them (the volunteers and social workers).
“When I asked why the manager was screaming and cursing at Huckle, he told me that the Englishman wanted to marry one of the Indian girls there. He had asked to marry her many times… I think she may have still been underage at that time,” he said, adding that Huckle was later banned from visiting and working at the home.
Siva said he was shocked when several years later, Huckle, a “committed Christian”, appeared in the neighbourhood, especially since it was a Hindu-majority area.
“He was a peculiar character. Why would a Christian man go to a Hindu temple every day? But it soon became the norm and I never bothered asking.
“I did not really want to mix with him because he gave me negative vibes,” he told New Straits Times yesterday.
Siva said Huckle took shelter with a family in one of the units there for a year, from 2013 to 2014.
A visit by the NST saw a few children playing at the door.
When approached, a woman in the house politely asked the reporters to leave.
Siva said he had only spoken to Huckle twice when he was living there.
“He was like a sociopath. His actions were always slow; he was trying to portray himself as an idiot, but you know he was not stupid. I had always wondered what he was thinking, especially since I knew about him before he came here.
“Remembering the incident at the welfare home, it was as though he had an attitude problem, but it was never revealed.”
Siva said the news of Huckle’s admission to molesting Malaysian kids was a shock to him, but all the questions he had were now answered.
One youth in the area had a different idea of Huckle.
A 22-year-old man, who only wanted to be known as Deva, said Huckle did not raise any eyebrows as he did not cause any disturbance in the community.
He was a “good guy”, he said.
“We always saw him, but that’s about it. He was a good guy. Honestly… he did not cause any trouble here. All he did was take photos of us, people in the community.
“But every time we called him over, he would quickly run away. We suppose he was afraid that we would bully him,” Deva said, while a few of his friends — aged 20 to 28 — nodded in agreement.
Although Huckle’s presence excited some, the youth also dubbed him as a scrawny man with a “loose screw” as he was strangely slow.
He was always alone, Deva said, consistently taking photographs, thus, they never thought anything more of Huckle.
Deva said everyone was shocked when the news broke on Wednesday and became worried as to what Huckle could have done to the children in the village.
He believed Huckle knew someone in the village, which was likely how he entered the community.
“He may have stayed here in one of the houses, but I do not know for sure. We would see him walking around… going to the temple, to the shops daily.”
However, village head V. Sundram, 65, told the NST that Huckle first came to the village in April 2013 during a Tamil New Year festival at the neighbourhood temple.
“When he came, I asked him what he was doing here. He told me that he came to take photos.
“There was nothing suspicious about his actions. He came again the next year (2014), but was never seen again since.
“Suddenly, news like this pops up. I do not know if he ever stayed here with any of the residents because this area, which is provided by the city council, is only for the Indian community,” he said, adding that he had once asked Huckle where he lived and the Englishman said he was from Taman Maluri, Cheras.
Sundram said although Huckle was generally quiet, he frequently shared his photographic works, attracting people to him.
He said he was certain that no such abuse occurred when Huckle was in the neighbourhood, adding that if anything had happened, someone would have informed him.
“During festivals, he would take photos of all of us, not just the children. We had programmes, too, and he would be the photographer, nothing more than that.” Additional reporting by Amin Mokhtar