The ashes of murdered deputy public prosecutor Dato’ Kevin Morais was interred in the columbarium at the Church of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Ipoh Garden, Ipoh, on February 27.
A memorial mass was held earlier at the Church of Our lady of Lourdes in Silibin, which his family attended regularly when they were living in Ipoh. About 300 people attended the mass conducted by the Bishop of Penang Sebastian Francis.
Also present were Archbishop Emeritus of Kuala Lumpur Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, retired Federal Court Judge Datuk P.S. Gill, two of his brothers, Datuk Richard and David and some family members.
After the mass, Pakiam sprinkled holy water on the urn containing Kevin’s ashes. Kevin was cremated on November 23 soon after his body was claimed from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary where it had lain for over a month, while the family sought to get a second post mortem conducted.
“It is with a feeling of profound sorrow that we have gathered here this afternoon to mourn the untimely death of Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais,” Gill said in his eulogy.
“It is all the more painful, particularly for me as the late Kevin Morais, as he was popularly known, worked as my deputy registrar in the High Court at Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur when I was a judge. When I first met him, he was a shy young man, eager to serve and do his duty as a man who was born to serve humanity.”
Kevin, he added, came from a respected family and both his parents, Mr Francis Albert Morais and Mrs Cecelia Ludy Morais imbued in him the good qualities of human conduct, that he later displayed with distinction. His late mother was the headmistress of the Tarcisian Convent in Lim Garden.
Gill also described Kevin as a devout Christian who attended church regularly and practised what was written in the Bible with honesty.
“All manner of persons, including all categories of society had access to him. His sense of dedication and compassion was legendary towards members of the Bar and public. He even asked me on one occasion to open the doors of the High Court at 8pm to grant bail to a lawyer. Such was his fierce love of fair mindedness and justice,” Gill added.
“As a person, his integrity was ‘par excellence’ and his constant courtesy is a shining example to all of us.”
Kevin, 55, a bachelor, was the eldest of four boys. His other siblings are Charles, David and Richard. Born in Kuala Lumpur, he studied at Anderson School, Ipoh and later proceeded to study law at London University and qualified as a lawyer.
He was deputy chief of the Appellate and Trial Division in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and had been seconded to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for a stint.
He was conferred Dato’ Paduka Mahkota Perak posthumously by the Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah last year.
Kevin was abducted on September 4 while on his way to work after leaving his home in Menara Duta, Kuala Lumpur, in a government-issued Proton Perdana.
The car was found torched in Perak the next day. His body was found on September 16 in a cement-filled oil drum in a secluded area of Subang Jaya, 12 days after he went missing.
Seven men, including a doctor, have been charged with murdering and abetting in Kevin’s murder. The case is scheduled to be heard in April.
Jerry Francis
