By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, March 10: The Court of Appeal today affirmed the conviction and death sentence imposed on a married couple for the 2020 murder of a woman who had been forced into prostitution to repay a debt.
A three-member bench comprising Datuk Wong Kian Keong, Datuk Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab, and Datin Paduka Evrol Mariete Peters dismissed the appeal brought by Seow Pei Chee, 44, from Subang Jaya and her husband Cheung Chia Ming, 44, from Kuala Lumpur.
Delivering the decision, Wong said the panel found the death penalty justified after considering the mitigation submitted and the broader public interest involved in the case.
He said the sentence reflected the principle that punishment must correspond with the severity of the crime.
“The death penalty is warranted to ensure justice for the surviving victim, the deceased’s child, who endured years of suffering under the accused and continues to live with the trauma of losing her mother in such a violent manner,” he said in the judgment.
He added that a prison sentence would be inadequate given the profound and lasting psychological trauma suffered by the victim’s daughter.
Seow and Cheung were earlier sentenced to death by the High Court on July 31, 2023, after being found guilty of murdering Heng Heow Lin, 38.
The offence took place in a house along Jalan Tong Sang in Sibu between 10pm on Oct 4 and 6am on Oct 6, 2020. They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code.
The prosecution was handled by deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee, while Seow and Cheung were represented by court-appointed lawyers Yap Hoi Liong and Timothy Finlayson Joel respectively.
According to the facts of the case, Heng and her 16-year-old daughter moved from Perak to Sibu in March 2016 and stayed with the couple. Heng, who worked as a cook and was related to one of the accused, had borrowed money from them.
Unable to settle the debt, the mother and daughter were subjected to repeated verbal and physical abuse.
The couple, also known as ‘Along Harimau’, forced both of them into prostitution as a means of repaying the loan and collected the earnings and would resort to violence whenever the income was considered insufficient.
The abuse escalated on the night of the incident when Heng was strangled with a cloth, resulting in her death.
Her body was later stuffed into a suitcase and dumped in an apparent attempt to conceal the crime. A note suggesting suicide was also placed inside the bag.
Members of the public discovered the suitcase containing the victim’s body at about 6.30am on Oct 6, 2020.
Heng’s daughter managed to escape from the house before further harm could be inflicted on her. — DayakDaily
