Malaysian police have re-arrested a second suspect in the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl which caused public outrage here, reports said today.

The 27-year-old unemployed man, nicknamed "Hanger," had been freed by a magistrate's court in southern Johor state after his remand order expired, the Sunday Star said.

But he was immediately detained under the Emergency Ordinance which allows 60-day detention to facilitate investigations into serious crime.

Johor police chief Musa Hassan was quoted as saying that the suspect could not be charged due to technicalities and insufficient evidence, but police were satisfied that investigations had shown he was involved.

The suspect was believed to be an accomplice of security guard Mohamad Abbas Danus Baksan, who was sentenced last week to 20 years in jail and 24 lashes for raping Nurulhuda Ghani, the New Sunday Times said.

Third suspect

The girl died after being gang-raped by three men, sodomised and strangled in a guard hut close to her home on January 17 after she was sent by her mother on an errand to a nearby grocery store.

The 47-year-old guard is also expected to face a charge of murder, which carries the death penalty. Police are searching for the third suspect.

The incident caused widespread public anger, particularly as it was the second rape and murder involving a 10-year-old girl in as many weeks.

Malaysia's cabinet has given the go-ahead for the mandatory death sentence to be imposed on rapists who kill their victims, and agreed in principle to provide for life imprisonment and possibly public whipping for rape, particularly of children.

According to official police statistics, the number of reported rape cases rose from 1,210 in 2000 to 1,354 in 2001 and 1,418 in 2002, with almost two-thirds of the victims under the age of 16. - AFP