Brutal Murder of a Mongolian Beauty |
3 May 2006
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The trial begins, almost a year after the gruesome killing captured public It had been postponed because Miss Liu's sister, a prosecution witness, 40 spectators fill the courtroom. The prosecution opens its case, saying it will prove that Leong had killed Miss Liu at his Geylang Lorong 3 flat sometime between 15 June and 9.30am on 16 June last year. Leong sits expressionless in the dock as the prosecution presents a grisly slideshow of the killing of Liu Hong Mei.
More than 280 photographs are shown. They are of Miss Liu's body parts, the tools believed to have been used to cut her into seven pieces, and the places where the body parts were dumped. Those in the public gallery can barely conceal their gasps of horror.
Prosecutors tell of her lower torso, wrapped in a green translucent bag, which was found packed in a soaked cardboard box along the Kallang River at around 9am on 16 June 2005. They say her body was cut just below the navel and just above her shins. A loose strand of hair and a seaweed-like object were seen on the lower It also looked like cuts had been made on Miss Liu's private parts. Prosecutors then show a second set of photos of the opposite river bank, where Miss Liu's upper torso - without her head - was discovered inside a red and white cardboard box. The upper torso shows an open wound on her left shoulder, as well as her More than 40 photos of her decomposed head are shown. The head was wrapped in newspaper and stuffed inside a yellow plastic bag with the word 'Artfriend' on it. Photos also reveal a bruise on the right side of her head, which had been The prosecution also shows more photos of Leong's flat, taken on 23 June 2005, including one of his 24-year-old son's room, which contained several yellow plastic bags with the word 'Artfriend' on them. Liu Hong Mei's sister also testifies. 24-year-old Madam Liu Hong Wei says her younger sister was clearly making plans for herself and was looking forward to being her bridesmaid for her customary wedding in September 2005. Mr John Puah, a consultant with Cambridge Educational Services, testifies that on 14 June last year - two days before her remains were discovered - Miss Liu went to see him about furthering her studies. Mr Lee Kian Hua, director of GoodLuck Friends Centre, testifies that she appeared to have plans to settle down in Singapore and had paid $788 to sign up with a match-making agency. Defence lawyer Subhas Anandan argues that Miss Liu had a different side she may not have let on to others. He asks if she knew her sister was having an affair with Leong. Madam Liu says she did not. |
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4 May 2006
Statements Leong gave to the police are read out. He claims that Miss Liu's death was the result of a suicide pact he did not have the courage to carry out. He said that after strangling his lover to death with a towel, he backed out. Using a chopper and a rubber mallet, he says he chopped her body into seven parts and dumped them. Under the law, it is not considered murder when a person above the age of 18 The court hears that although Leong stuck to this version of events in four interviews with the police, on 26 June 2005, he gave an account that contradicted his suicide pact story. Defence lawyers Subhas Anandan and Sunil Sudheesan object to this statement being admitted and are questioning whether it was made voluntarily.
Other statements by Leong are read out and they centre on his own account of how he killed, cut up and disposed of Miss Liu. He says that after strangling Miss Liu in the bedroom of his family home, he grasped her legs at the ankles and dragged her body into the kitchen where he stripped her and pulled her body into the kitchen toilet. Using a chopper, he then began cutting her body into pieces. Leong told the police, ''I did not know where to start. So I choose the smallest part of the body, which is the feet.'' In the statement, he says that he cut away her feet from above her ankles, using a heavy rubber mallet to hammer the chopper through the bone. After the feet were severed, he washed the blood from his feet and hands, Next, he hacked her legs from above her shins, wrapped them with newspaper He then began on her torso, flushing down the toilet a bit of her intestines which fell out. After hacking off her head, he wrapped the different parts in plastic bags, By then, it was about 1pm. Leong says Miss Liu had gone to his flat between Leong says he then cleaned up the kitchen and the toilet, then took Miss Liu's clothes, shoes and the bag containing her feet and put them in his bicycle basket. He cycled off, dumping her clothes in a rubbish bin at the junction of Sims He then went back home, where he decided to dump the remaining parts in the 'For the Chinese, sometimes when they cremate the dead, the ashes would be Taking separate taxi trips each time, he threw her legs into the Singapore The last body parts to be dumped were Miss Liu's upper and lower torso, He then went home and washed the toilet and the tools, placing them back where he found them in the kitchen. He then put the bedsheets, which had drops of Miss Liu's blood on them, into He took Miss Liu's white handbag, containing her wallet, a digital camera and Leong then went to work as usual that night. The other operators noticed that Miss Liu, who was usually punctual and Says Leong: ''I just casually replied, 'Don't know'." He added in his statement that he also instructed another subordinate to call Miss Liu to find out why she had not turned up. Dr Cuthbert Teo, the forensic pathologist who examined Miss Liu's body, is given a thorough cross-examination in court as both the defence and the prosecution seek answers to support their arguments. At the centre of the questions put to him is the issue of so-called 'defence injuries', which would indicate that a murder victim has been hurt while trying to protect herself. The defence's position is that Miss Liu had no injuries on her neck because The prosecution argues that there were no injuries on Miss Liu because Leong Deputy public prosecutor Lau Wing Yum asks Dr Teo: 'In the case of Dr Teo, who is with the Health Sciences Authority's Centre of Forensic 'The compression of the neck by a broad, soft towel usually either leaves During his cross-examination, defence lawyer Subhas Anandan asks Dr Teo: Dr Teo explains that a victim in this case might scratch herself while trying to pull the towel off, but he did not find any indication of this on Miss Liu. He concedes that if the deceased had indeed consented to being strangled, there might not be any typical defensive injuries. Dr Teo also adds that before a person loses consciousness, the human Dr Teo says he is unable to ascertain a definite cause of death, because |
 
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5 May 2006
| The court deals with a trial within a trial as the focus is on the surprise turnaround in a statement Leong gave to the police nine days after he had been in custody. In his first statement on 17 June 2005, Leong had maintained that he strangled the Chinese national with a towel after she had suggested a suicide pact. However in a statement made on 26 June 2005, Leong apparently changed his mind and admitted to killing his lover over cash. This statement proves crucial to the case and his lawyers continue to base their case on Leong's original story, attempting to persuade the judge to rule the later statement inadmissible. Leong takes the stand for the first time and it is in connection to the statements given rather than the murder trial. Leong claims the police had persuaded him to change his story and had misled him into believing it would help reduce his sentence and help him avoid the death penalty. In his June 26 statement, Leong had told Acting Inspector Roy Lim that he had Not knowing that he was the culprit, Miss Liu told him she had made a police However, he could not muster the courage to tell her he had taken her card, he had said in the statement. He adds that while they were on his bed, it was he - and not her, as claimed earlier - that suggested that they die together. ''I dare not kill myself and neither was I going to kill myself. I just ''Liu Hong Mei did not know that my intention was actually for her to die and However, when on the stand, Leong challenges the 26 June 2005 statement. He says he 'cooperated' with Acting Inspector Roy Lim Eng Seng because the officer bought him herbal tea when he had a sore throat and offered to help him collect a debt. He adds that Insp Lim had told him that his original story was 'not ''He told me nobody would believe me. If I wanted people to believe me, I had When Mr Anandan asks him why he signed the statement even though it is not Leong appears calm when examined by his lawyer Subhas Anandan. However, he loses his composure during the prosecution's cross-examination. When deputy public prosecutor Lau Wing Yum asks him repeatedly to point At several points in the questioning, Leong seems hard-pressed to answer Acting Inspector Roy Lim also takes the stand to give his account of the 26 June 2005 statement he had taken from Leong. He tells the court he did buy a herbal drink for Leong, because Leong had told him his throat was dry. According to his field diary, this had taken place on 5 July after the Insp Lim also says he did not offer to help him collect a debt. Leong suddenly snatches the microphone and yells in Mandarin: ''He's lying!'' In oral submissions, Mr Anandan argues that the 26 June 2005 statement should not be admitted in court for three reasons. First, he says Leong's constitutional right was breached because he was not allowed access to legal counsel before the statement was taken. He also claims the statement was not read back to Leong after recording, Lastly, he says Insp Lim used false promises to persuade Leong to make Justice Tay Yong Kwang, who heard testimonies from both Leong and Insp Lim, says he accepts the police officer's version of the circumstances in which it was recorded. He rejects arguments by defence lawyer Subhas Anandan that the accused's constitutional rights and criminal procedures had been breached and that Leong had been misled. Justice Tay finds that Leong has to stand trial for the murder of Liu Hong Mei and there is sufficient evidence to warrant one. |
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