Murder

SINGAPORE - A woman accused of killing her two-year-old daughter, whose remains were found inside a metal pot five years after the alleged crime, has been temporarily let off the hook for murder. The 32-year-old was granted on Tuesday (March 2) a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for her murder charge. A discharge not amounting to an acquittal means that she can still be prosecuted for the offence later, depending on the evidence that emerges. The woman is still facing 12 additional charges, including multiple counts of abuse involving four other children. Her case is expected to be heard again on April 13. She and her 33-year-old husband were charged in September 2019 for killing their daughter in a Chin Swee Road flat in March 2014. The toddler's remains were found in the pot in 2019. They cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the children's identities. The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said in a statement last month that the other four children are the ... » Learn More about Chin Swee Road case: Mum accused of killing toddler, hiding remains in pot temporarily off the hook for murder

A Chinese woman accused of murdering seven people , including a three-year-old girl, more than two decades ago pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying she was coerced into the crimes, according to state media reports. In a two-day trial that ended on Tuesday, Lao Rongzhi, 46, told Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court that her involvement stopped at kidnapping and robbery and that she was not aware the victims would be murdered by her boyfriend and partner in crime Fa Ziying, according to Procuratorial Daily , a newspaper published by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. “I was only 21 … I was confused,” Lao was quoted as saying. “I was coerced by Fa and couldn’t break up for fear that he would retaliate against my family.” Fa was tried and executed in 1999 after he was caught at the home of a victim in Hefei, Anhui province, attempting to collect a ransom. Lao remained on the run until she was arrested in the southern city of Xiamen in November last year. But prosecutors ... » Learn More about ‘I was coerced’: Chinese woman pleads not guilty to serial murders

A Hong Kong couple have denied murdering their five-year-old daughter who prosecutors said died of septicaemia after her immunity was weakened by 150 days of neglect, horrifying “games” and torture “in hell”. The High Court on Wednesday (March 3) heard the child was found with more than 130 injuries over her body, after she was rushed unconscious – in a diaper – to hospital and certified dead on Jan 6, 2018. Her eight-year-old brother was also sent to hospital on the same day, and was similarly found with 130 injuries to his head, face and underweight body, according to prosecutors. Their father, 29, and stepmother, 30, have admitted two counts of child cruelty in respect to both children, but denied the girl’s murder. The prosecution has rejected their offer to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, also punishable by life in prison. The children’s 56-year-old step-grandmother is also on trial, on four counts of child cruelty, alleging wilful ill-treatment and ... » Learn More about Hong Kong couple deny murdering daughter, 5, who died after months of ‘torture in hell’

TORONTO - A man who plowed a rented van into dozens of people in Toronto in 2018 is guilty of murdering 10 people and attempting to murder 16, a judge ruled on Wednesday (March 3), dismissing a defense argument that a mental disorder left the driver unaware of how horrific his actions were. Alek Minassian, 28, told police he was motivated by a desire to punish society for his perceived status as an “incel” - short for involuntary celibate - because he believed women would not have sex with him. Minassian had pleaded that he was not criminally responsible. The defense failed to prove Minassian’s autism spectrum disorder deprived him of the capacity to know his actions were wrong, Judge Anne Molloy said in a verdict, live-streamed on YouTube following a trial held virtually due to the pandemic. Molloy referred to Minassian as “John Doe” to try to deny him the notoriety he said he desired. “Mr. Doe thought about committing these crimes over a considerable period of time and made a ... » Learn More about Man found guilty of murder in 2018 Toronto van attack, life in prison likely

SINGAPORE - A man originally accused of murder following a 2019 brawl at Orchard Towers was sentenced on Friday (March 5) to four years and nine months' jail with 12 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of being in the company of someone who had a weapon in his possession. Tan Hong Sheng, now 24, was the sixth person linked to the case who was dealt with in a district court. On Feb 5, he pleaded guilty to being in the company of Tan Sen Yang, now 29, who had a kerambit knife at Orchard Towers on the day Mr Satheesh Noel Gobidass, 31, was killed. The younger man also admitted last month to two unrelated rioting charges. Tan Hong Sheng was one of seven people initially charged with Mr Satheesh's murder on July 2, 2019. Tan Sen Yang still faces a murder charge and will be dealt with in the High Court. The other six have had their murder charges reduced to less serious ones such as assault. Tan Hong Sheng's lawyers, Mr Josephus Tan and Mr Cory Wong from ... » Learn More about Orchard Towers murder: Man gets jail, caning after pleading guilty to reduced charge

FILE PHOTO – In this Dec. 15, 2014 file photo, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain. (AP File Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) Washington, United States — The US director of national intelligence is expected to release a damning report Friday that fingers Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the brutal murder and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018. The classified report is believed to say that, based on intelligence collected by the CIA and other spy bodies, the kingdom’s de facto leader directed the assassination of the respected US-based writer in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The prince has steadfastly denied a part in the murder, even as some of his closest advisors have been shown to be deeply involved. Intent on strengthening relations with Riyadh, previous US president Donald Trump’s administration avoided making the report public or naming Prince Mohammed in the case. Its ... » Learn More about US to release report fingering Saudi prince in Khashoggi murder

A woman accused of killing seven people, including a three-year-old girl, went on trial in eastern China on Monday after 20 years on the run. Lao Rongzhi, 46, apologised to the victims’ families but denied that her involvement was “intentional”, saying she had been in an abusive relationship and had been forced to take part in the crimes, according to local media reports. A tearful Lao told Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangxi province that she did not want to kill anyone and tried to break up with her boyfriend Fa Ziying many times, but he refused to let her leave. Fa was caught in July 1999 when collecting a ransom at the home of a victim in Anhui province and was executed five months later for murder, kidnapping and robbery. “Fa Ziying often beat me, choked me and tortured me. He threatened my family if we broke up … I didn’t want to kill anyone. I just wanted to live,” Lao told the court, according to People’s Daily . She told the court she had four abortions ... » Learn More about Woman ‘serial killer’ goes on trial for seven murders in China after 20 years on the run

SINGAPORE - Chilling footage of an emaciated domestic worker being grabbed by the hair and shaken like a rag doll was played in court on Tuesday (Feb 23). Her Singaporean employer, the wife of a police officer, admitted that she had starved, tortured and ultimately killed her 24-year-old Myanmar helper. Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Gaiyathiri Murugayan, 40, after she pleaded guilty to 28 charges, the most serious being one of culpable homicide. For close to 10 months, the maid, Ms Piang Ngaih Don, was physically assaulted almost daily, deprived of food and rest, and made to shower and relieve herself with the toilet door open. In the last 12 days of her life, she was tied to the window grille at night while she slept on the floor. The Myanmar national weighed 24kg when she died on July 26, 2016, from the final assault, having lost 38 per cent of her body weight since she started working for the family on May 28, 2015. The ordeal she suffered in the last ... » Learn More about Cop’s wife admits starving maid to 24kg, torturing her to death

Chinese police are investigating the death of a 23-year-old woman who is alleged to have leapt from the window of a van she had hired through online platform Huolala, which is known as Lalamove in other Asian markets. The incident has rekindled public anger in China over the lack of driver security checks and passenger safety for those using some vehicle-hailing apps. Two women were murdered by drivers for another ride-hailing platform, Didi Chuxing, in the space of three months in 2018. On Wednesday (Feb 24), Huolala released a statement on Weibo, China’s Twitter, apologising to the woman’s family and promising safety improvements. In an earlier statement, on Feb 21, Huolala said the passenger, surnamed Che, had hailed a van on the night of Feb 6 in Changsha, the capital of southern Hunan province, to help her move house. Che reportedly jumped out of the moving van in which she was a passenger, the statement said, and died in hospital a few days later. Che’s distraught ... » Learn More about Woman’s ride-hailing death in China sparks fresh anger over lack of safety and security

A 73-year-old psychiatric outpatient at a public hospital was arrested on suspicion of killing her husband with a meat cleaver at their home in a Hong Kong public housing estate on Thursday (Feb 25). The 69-year-old man was asleep when the attack took place in the 22nd-floor of Kwai Yiu House, at Lai Yiu Estate in Kwai Chung, at around 4.30am. The couple’s 40-year-old daughter was sleeping in the living room at the time. Police believe the elderly woman had got the cleaver from the kitchen and used it to strike her husband in the head as he slept in the bedroom. The daughter was woken up by her father’s shouts for help, and called police. “The man managed to pin his wife on the floor and snatched the meat cleaver before officers arrived,” said Chief Inspector Wong Sun-lok, of the Kwai Tsing district crime squad. He said the elderly man suffered at least six cuts to the head and lost consciousness while being taken to Princess Margaret Hospital. He died in hospital shortly ... » Learn More about Elderly woman in Hong Kong arrested on suspicion of killing her husband with meat cleaver