Ahmad Najib Aris

Ahmad Najib bin Aris (1976 – 23 September 2016) was a Malaysian convicted murderer who in 2003 raped and killed Canny Ong, a US-based Malaysian information technology (IT) analyst. The crime made headlines across Malaysia. He was sentenced to death in 2005 after being found guilty in a highly reported trial, and throughout the next 11 years, he made multiple failed appeals against his sentence and was finally executed on 23 September 2016, more than 13 years after murdering Ong. Ahmad Najib was also alleged to have committed at least four charges of rape on four different women, but was not formally charged.

On 23 September 2016, more than 13 years after the murder of Canny Ong, 40-year-old Ahmad Najib bin Aris was executed by hanging in Kajang Prison. His body was returned to his family and later laid buried at the Sungai Kantan Muslim cemetery in Kajang.

Later on, Ahmad Najib appealed to the Federal Court of Malaysia, which was the highest court of Malaysia, and the appeal was heard before a five-person bench, composed of Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Arifin Zakaria and four Federal Court Justices, Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman, Datuk S. Augustine Paul, Datuk Hashim Yusoff and Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, but the Federal Court also rejected his appeal in March 2009, which effectively finalized Ahmad Najib's death sentence and his other sentence of 20 years' imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane. Ahmad Najib later appealed for mercy from the Sultan of Selangor to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment, but the plea of pardon was rejected.

After the High Court sentenced him to death, Ahmad Najib filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence, but on 5 March 2007, the Court of Appeal of Malaysia, composed of judges Abdul Aziz Mohamed, Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff, and Azmel Ma'amor, dismissed the appeal, affirming the conviction and sentence based on the forensic evidence against Ahmad Najib, though they rejected the admissibility of the confession due to possibility of police pressuring Ahmad Najib to confess.

On 23 February 2005, after a trial lasting 52 days, the Shah Alam High Court found Ahmad Najib guilty of murder and rape. The judge said that the evidence against Ahmad Najib was overpowering and the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Ahmad Najib had indeed murdered and raped Canny Ong. Consequently, for murdering Canny Ong, Ahmad Najib was sentenced to death. Additionally, for raping Canny Ong, the High Court judge Muhammad Ideres sentenced Ahmad Najib to 20 years' imprisonment, the maximum sentence under Malaysian law for rape, along with 10 strokes of the cane.

In August 2004, when the High Court determined that the prosecution had made out a prima facie case against him, Ahmad Najib was called to give his defence. After discussing with his six defence lawyers, he chose to remain silent, much to the shock of the public and the court. Under the law, if a person chooses to remain silent, the judge would have to convict the defendant but do nothing else. However, the lawyer Mohamed Haniff argued that the court should have an option of convicting his client or re-evaluate the evidence and submissions from the prosecution before deciding the verdict. He also said that Ahmad Najib's decision to remain silent was not a move to indicate to the judge that the judge's decision to convict him is correct, and he reiterated that if so, then the right to remain silent is not a legal option under the law. In return, DPP Salehuddin argued that the defence had not rebutted the prosecution's case and did not call any other witnesses to testify on their behalf. It was decreed that in the law, DPP Salehuddin said, if the prosecution's case was left unrebutted, and the accused chose to remain silent, the accused is ought to be found guilty of the charges he was tried for in court.

Later on, in early 2003, Ong's father, Ong Bee Jeng was suffering from cancer and on 1 June 2003, together with her husband, Ong flew from the United States to Malaysia to visit her ailing father. Luckily, her father's condition improved and was recovering, and so Ong was set to return to the US on 14 June 2003.

On 13 June 2003, the day before Canny Ong was due to return to USA by flight, she went out for a farewell dinner of steak and fried crabs with her family and close friends at Monde Restaurant, Bangsar Shopping Complex (BSC), Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

On 14 June 2003, at 12.00 pm, two plainsclothes policemen patrolling on a motorcycle found a Proton Tiara (Canny Ong's car) and upon approaching it, they saw Ahmad Najib and Canny Ong inside it near Kelana Jaya. Canny Ong was still alive at the time. One of the officers, Lance Corporal Subramaniam Ravichandran, showed his police ID and asked to see the duo's identification cards, which Ahmad Najib and his captive Ong had given upon the officer's request. Ravichandran asked the two to get out, but Ahmad Najib refused to, and even stopped Ong from getting out of the car. According to Ravichandran, the High Court heard in the trial of Ahmad Najib that Ong had made a series of strange hand gestures towards the officer (before Ahmad Najib noticed her), apparently trying to seek help from the officer, but he could not understand the gestures. Ahmad Najib then quickly drove off after he maintained his refusal to alight the car, and the policemen, who still held on to the IDs of Ong and her kidnapper, quickly fired shots at the car and attempted to give chase, but they lost sight of the car. The IDs later became the major clue to identifying the last person with Ong when police obtained the IDs and investigated the murder and rape case.

On the Tuesday morning of 17 June 2003, Canny Ong's remains were discovered by a construction site manager. She was found with a cloth around her neck, her hands crossed over her chest and her legs dangling out of the hole. The police, having received reports of Canny Ong's disappearance, arrived at the scene and brought the body for forensic tests. Canny Ong's family was contacted to identify her body. The abandoned Proton Tiara was also discovered by police.

An autopsy revealed that Ong was strangled before her body was set alight. Semen was found on Ong's vagina. Subsequently, following the police investigation of the case, on 20 June 2003, Ahmad Najib was arrested as a suspect, and the DNA tests confirmed that the semen matched Ahmad Najib's. The man also confessed to the police that he had indeed killed Ong, and made a full-length confession of the crime, and even led the police to the various crime scenes related to the rape and murder. Ahmad Najib had also said in his confession that he went to the shopping centre to want to look for a woman he had a grudge with, and the woman was his former employer, but had mistook Ong for the woman, and only realised the mistake when Ravichandran checked the ID.

Canny Ong's funeral was held at St Francis Xavier Church on 27 June 2003. Over 500 people from the public attended the funeral to offer their condolences, including some politicians. Ong's family and friends were also present at the funeral.

The trial started on 15 September 2003, merely 3 months after Canny Ong's murder. DPP Salehuddin bin Saidin was the prosecutor in charge of the case, and the defence lawyer representing Ahmad Najib was Mohamed Haniff bin Khatri Abdulla, a notable lawyer in Malaysia. If found guilty of murder, under Section 302 of the Malaysian Penal Code, Ahmad Najib faces the mandatory death penalty.

Ong went to the U.S. to study in university, and studied economics in Hawaii. She met her future husband Brandon Ong (Chinese: 王奕天; pinyin: Wáng Yìtiān) in Los Angeles when she went there to seek employment, and they married in 2001. Brandon Ong was born to ethnic Chinese parents who immigrated from Singapore to U.S. more than 20 years prior to his wife's murder. Together, the couple settled in San Diego.

Ahmad Najib was later married with two children (aged between two and one at the time of his sentencing), and was employed as an airplane cabin cleaner in Malaysia Airlines since 2000. Ahmad Najib lived in Pantai Dalam before committing the murder of Canny Ong. According to people who knew him, Ahmad Najib was a man of good character and responsible in his work.

Ahmad Najib studied up to his third year in secondary school (Form Three) before he dropped out without continuing his final two years of secondary school education (secondary school education in Malaysia lasts five years), because he had to work to support his family, and was hard-working. In 1998, he came from Muar to Kuala Lumpur.

Ahmad Najib bin Aris was born and raised in Muar, Malaysia. His date of birth was sometime in 1976. Ahmad Najib was the second of four siblings in the family.

Born on 18 July 1974 as the second and youngest daughter of Ong Bee Jeng (Chinese: 王美钟; pinyin: Wáng Meǐzhōng) and Pearly Visvanathan in Ipoh, Perak, Canny Ong Lay Kian (Chinese: 王丽涓; pinyin: Wáng Lìjuān) was a Malaysian working as an information technology analyst in San Diego, California, United States. Her mother is of Chinese and Indian descent. Ong has two sisters named Elsie Ong Lee Cheng (Chinese: 王丽娴; pinyin: Wáng Lìxián) and Ong Lee Shian. Ong was said to be a dutiful daughter and considerate.