SIBU: The High Court today (July 31) convicted and sentenced to death a couple for murdering a woman, whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase and dumped by a roadside of Jalan Aman here.
Seow Pei Chie of Subang Jaya, Selangor, and her husband Cheung Chia Ming from Jalan Tun Sambathan, Kuala Lumpur, both 41, were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same code, which carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
They were jointly accused of murdering Heng Meow Lin, 38, at a residence in Jalan Tong Sang here between Oct 4 and 6, 2021.
In delivering his verdict, Justice Datuk Christopher Chin Soo Yin pointed out that having considered the evidence as a whole, he was satisfied that both accused, in their defence, had not raised a reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case.
Hence, he found the two accused guilty as charged.
“In the light of the discretion given to this Court by section 34 of the Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023, amending section 302 of the Penal Code which states: “Whoever commits murder shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for a term of not less than 30 years but not exceeding 40 years and if not sentenced to death shall be punished with whipping of not less than 12 strokes”, Justice Chin said he has taken serious consideration of the plea in mitigation and to the remarks by the learned DPP (Deputy Public Prosecutor).
Pointing out that the accused have been found guilty of murder, he said the facts of the case shocked him and would shock anyone in civil society.
He noted that the accused have subjected the victim and her teenage daughter to years of torture, fear and physical abuse and lived on her earnings as a prostitute and when she did not earn enough the accused became violent to her.
The accused, he stated were also prepared to prostitute the daughter of the deceased for their own monetary gain as moneylenders.
He said the victim died a brutal death, and that the autopsy report showed that she had blunt force trauma on her head consistent with having her head violently knocked onto the wall and after all that violence, she was strangled to death.
“Civil society will find it hard to believe that such manner of abuse exists today and in their midst,” the judge said.
He said the only mercy he could find in this case, was that the daughter of the deceased had managed to escape from the psychological and physical abuse and that the deceased was now free from the violence and mental torture from both of the accused.
He pointed out that this was not a random isolated physical beating, and there is evidence that this has gone on for a long time.
It is hard to construe the murder as unintentional, he said, adding that after the death, the deceased was bundled by both of the accused into a suitcase and dumped on a roadside.
“This act cannot be done by anyone of the accused alone but must have been carried out by both of them”, he stated.
Justice Chin said the recent amendments to the law giving the Court the discretion as to whether to impose the death sentence allows the accused to seek the mercy and discretion of the Court to substitute the death sentence with a custodial sentence and whipping.
“Given the prolonged suffering that was inflicted by you (accused) to the deceased and the violent and painful manner in which she met her death, I have to ask myself, what about the mercy to the victim? What about the justice to the victim’s daughter who has to live with the memory of her mother’s violent death?
“What example or duty this Court owes to society in deciding whether to exercise the discretion of mercy in the 2023 Act. The victim was defenceless and her death was pre-meditated and was cold blooded. It wasn’t accidental death or death caused by negligence.
“The deceased met a brutal end. She was subject to years of mental as well as physical abuse. The interest of the public as a civil society weighs heavily in this case. Seen in the light of your pattern of abuse and brutality to the victim I have no alternative but to pass the sentence of death to both of you in accordance with amended section 302 of the Penal Code. I have taken into account the law as to common intention peculiar to Malaysia.
“In accordance with section 277 of the Criminal Procedure Code you will be taken to a place and at a time to be determined later where you will hanged by the neck until you are dead.
“It leaves me to thank the assigned counsels for being professional and for doing their best in this case. Their tenacity and efforts for their clients and the decorum shown in Court is a credit to their profession,” Justice Chin added.
The case was prosecuted by DPP Mark Kenneth Netto who brought 18 witnesses to testify in the trial.
Seow and Cheung were represented by their respective assigned counsels, Yap Hoi Liong and Jacob Wong.
