Aug 26, 2005
Huang Na's murderer to hang
THE accused in the Huang Na murder case Took Leng How has been sentence to hang.

Took's lawyers failed to prove that the vegetable packer (right) was suffering from a mental condition at the time he murdered Huang Na (left). -- TNP, GUANG MING
Justice Lai Kew Chai said at the close of the 13-day trial that the prosecution had made its case, and that the defence had failed to prove that Took was suffering from a mental condition at the time of the crime.
The smile that Took, 22, had been wearing through most of the trial and even this morning faded when the translator explained the penalty to him.
His family from Penang, including his bawling baby son, was also in the courtroom. His parents and wife were given time to see him in private after the sentencing and the courtroom was cleared for this.
About 80 members of the public attended the sentencing, and outside the courtroom, another 40 or so hovered, unable to get in.
Took's lawyers had argued that the vegetable packer was suffering from schizophrenia, a mental disorder that substantially clouded his judgment.

Took's parents, char kway teow hawkers from Penang, were given private time with Took after his sentencing. -- LAU FOOK KONG
Took did not take the stand. His lawyers built his defence on the testimony of his psychiatrist.
Eight-year-old Huang Na's half-decomposed body was found packed into a cardboard box left on a hilly slope in Telok Blangah Hill Park. The murder took place at the nearby Pasir Panjang Wholesale storeroom.
The girl whose cherubic face was splashed in newspapers, was reported missing on Oct 10 and her body found on Oct 31.
She spent a lot of time around the Pasir Panjang wholesale market, where her mother, Madam Li Qiuying, 32, worked. Madam Li was a peidu mama, one of the many mainland Chinese women working here to accompany a child studying in a Singapore school.