By Kenny Chee

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HIS father is missing and his mother was imprisoned last year for drug offences.

But that did not stop sixy ear- old Edy from being active, friendly and polite to his neighbours.

So it was with shock that his next-door neighbour, taxi driver Tan Teck Hoon, found out that the boy had come to a tragic end after being missing for a week.

Edy, whose full name is Muhammad Nor Rashidy Rahmat, had been murdered.

'I don't know his name but he seemed well-behaved. Whenever he saw me, he would call me 'uncle, uncle',' said Mr Tan, 45.

He added that he had seen the boy, whom he described as active and not afraid of strangers, running alone around the neighbourhood.

'Why kill a small kid? The people (who did it) must be psychos,' he said.

Edy, who lived at Block 65 in Kallang Bahru with his grandmother and his mother's sister, was last seen there last Wednesday evening before he went missing.

Edy's aunt, Ms Nur Liana Amin, 21, said that the child's hired caregiver, a man called Boy, had taken Edy to kindergarten as usual last Wednesday morning, Berita Harian reported yesterday.

After Edy's class was over, Boy took him out to play. During that time, police went to Edy's home and arrested Boy's wife for drug offences, said Ms Nur.

Ms Nur said that the family contacted Boy later to ask him if Edy was with him.

Boy answered 'yes', adding that he would take Edy home.

But Edy never got back.

Edy's family called Boy repeatedly, but he would only say that he was occupied and would take Edy home as soon as possible.

Edy's grandmother, Madam Asmah Asmoneh, 56, decided to trust Boy and believed that Edy was safe with him.

The family waited a whole day before Boy finally turned up last Friday at Edy's home, but without Edy. Boy said that he was at the void deck with Edy earlier and had told him to go back home on his own.

When the family told Boy that Edy had not returned, he hurriedly left, saying that he would go look for Edy.

That was the last time Ms Nur saw Boy. She said that the family tried to call him after that, but he could not be reached as he had turned off his mobile phone.

Boy and his wife were hired a month ago to look after Edy.

They live in Bukit Merah. Boy was described as being tall, with long hair and tattoos on both forearms.

Ms Nur told Berita Harian that they suspected Boy had taken Edy because he loved the boy very much.

Mr Tan's mother told reporters yesterday that she had often seen a man with shoulder- length hair visiting Edy's home.

She said that Edy seemed to know the man and get along well with him.

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The police said that Edy's grandmother had made a police report on Monday that an acquaintance had taken the boy five days earlier, and he had not returned home yet.

The police then mounted an islandwide search, involving almost 70 officers, to look for the acquaintance and Edy.

On Tuesday afternoon, the police sent out an appeal for information on the whereabouts of the missing six-year-old.

And they found him early yesterday morning - dead.

His decomposed body was found in a trolley bag along the banks of the Kallang River, near Block 44 in Bendemeer Road.

Mr Addie Riz, 40, who lives in Block 44 and is self-employed, said that he saw the police escorting a plump, dark-skinned man with shoulder- length hair in his 30s below his block at about 8am.

The man had his hands and feet in straps.

The police said yesterday that after more than 36 hours, they had found the acquaintance of Edy's grandmother, a 31-year-old man, in a hotel in Westerhout Road early yesterday morning.

The suspect will be charged in court today with murder. If convicted, the penalty is death.

Edy's cousin, who wanted to be known only as Lina, a 28-year-old kindergarten teacher, told reporters yesterday that his grandmother was very distraught.

'We want justice and hope the police will help us investigate,' she said.

Lina, who is a mother herself, said that she hopes her family's tragedy does not happen to other people and said that 'all parents must be very vigilant'.

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