Murder of Dirang

On 1 March 2012, four-year-old Nurul Nadirah Abdullah, known by her nickname Dirang, went missing after leaving her family's flat in Bandar Seri Alam, Pasir Gudang, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, to buy instant noodles and eggs from a nearby grocery shop. When she failed to return, her mother searched for her and later lodged a police report. Police recovered Dirang's slippers and groceries at an oil palm plantation behind the flats, and witnesses reported seeing her with a couple near the shop before she disappeared. On 8 March 2012, a week after she vanished, charred remains were found at the plantation and confirmed through DNA testing to be Dirang's. A post-mortem determined she had been sexually assaulted before her death.

Police reclassified the case as murder and arrested five suspects, including Dirang's biological father, Handry Yangot, who was later cleared of involvement in the killing but faced deportation over immigration status. Investigators linked the crime to a feud involving drug addicts connected to Dirang's family. On 26 March 2012, 24-year-old contract labourer Muidin Maidin was charged with murder; another suspect was separately charged with drug consumption.

At trial before the Johor Bahru High Court, prosecutors presented DNA evidence linking semen found on Dirang's body to Muidin, along with soil and clothing evidence tying him to the plantation scene. Muidin denied involvement and offered an alibi, but a witness testified that he had last seen Muidin the day before the murder, and another witness placed Muidin at the plantation on the day Dirang died. Prosecutors said Muidin abducted Dirang after luring her with candy, then raped and smothered her before burning her body, allegedly motivated by resentment toward her grandmother. On 28 June 2013, Justice Datuk Abdul Halim Aman convicted Muidin of murder and imposed the mandatory death sentence, while also criticizing broader parental and community lapses that he said contributed to the circumstances of the crime.

Muidin's appeals were rejected by the Court of Appeal in December 2014 and by the Federal Court in May 2015, which upheld his conviction and death sentence. Following legal reforms that made the death penalty discretionary rather than mandatory for murder, Muidin was among hundreds of death row prisoners who sought re-sentencing. On 9 July 2024, the Federal Court, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, rejected his bid to have the sentence reduced to a fixed prison term, and he remains on death row without a scheduled execution date.

The case drew significant public attention in Malaysia as one of the country's notable child murder cases of the 2010s, prompting commentary from officials and legal professionals about child safety and violence against children.