Fridae

Malaysian police have said there is no element of hate crime in the murder of 26-year-old  transgender woman Sameera Krishnan who was found murdered in a pre-dawn attack in Kuantan last Thursday.

Sameera was slashed repeatedly, four fingers were severed when she tried to ward off the attack and she was also shot in the back, head, and buttocks.

"We are looking into the victim's past activities and also whether the murder was linked to a kidnapping case in Klang two years ago," said Pahang CID chief Senior Asst Commissioner Datuk Raja Shahrom Raja Abdullah, according to the Star Online.

"We are investigating if it was an act of vengeance but there is no indication that the murder was a hate crime against a transgender individual.

Sameera, 26, was the main witness in her own kidnapping case, which had been set for hearing at the Shah Alam court early next month.

In the 2015 case, she was rescued by police when her captors' car was involved in an accident with another vehicle at the Sungai Rasau toll plaza.

Samara's mother Mariayee told the Malay Online how the family had accepted Sameera, a florist, as atransgender.

"She was jovial, soft-spoken and well-liked by her siblings and the rest of the family," Mariayee said. "She was different but we accepted her for who she was and the changes she underwent."

"We respected her decision and was always there to support her. After her brutal murder, they (the media) labelled her with all sorts of things. This hurt the family, relatives and friends."