PETALING JAYA: The Federal Court has upheld the death sentences imposed on a couple who murdered a woman after subjecting her to abuse and forcing her into prostitution over an RM800 debt.
A three-member panel chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Azizah Nawawi, sitting with Justices Rhodzariah Bujang and Collin Lawrence Sequerah, unanimously dismissed the final appeals of Seow Pei Chie and her husband, Cheung Chai Ming, against their convictions and death sentences.
Seow and Cheung, both 44, were convicted of murdering Heng Heow Lin, 38, between 10pm on Oct 4 and 6am on Oct 6, 2020 at a house on Jalan Tong Sang in Sibu, Sarawak.
Heng's body was stuffed into a suitcase and dumped on Jalan Aman in Sibu, before being discovered by the public at about 6.30am on Oct 6, 2020.
The High Court sentenced Seow and Cheung to death on July 31, 2023, after finding them guilty under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34.
The Court of Appeal upheld their convictions and sentences on March 10 this year.
Delivering the Federal Court’s decision in Kuching today, Sequerah said the gravity of the crime and the public interest warranted the death penalty.
“The victim, who was in a vulnerable position, suffered continuous abuse and was strangled before her body was placed in a suitcase and dumped by the roadside,” he said.
He said the aggravating circumstances outweighed any mitigating factors.
Sequerah said that although the mandatory death penalty was abolished through legislative amendments in 2023, courts retained the discretion to impose either the death penalty or life imprisonment in appropriate cases.
Heng, a cook and cousin of one of the accused, moved to Sibu with her then 16-year-old daughter in 2016 and lived with the couple.
After she borrowed RM800 from the couple, she and her daughter were subjected to physical and verbal abuse when they struggled to repay the debt.
The couple forced them into prostitution and took the money they earned, beating them when the proceeds were insufficient.
Heng was strangled with a red cloth on the day of the murder, and her body was placed in a suitcase with a note falsely suggesting that she had died by suicide before being dumped on Jalan Aman, Sibu.
Heng’s daughter managed to escape further abuse.
Deputy public prosecutor Allan Suman Pillai prosecuted, while lawyers Jong Yee Ling and Candida Entri represented the couple.