The World Day Against
the Death Penalty is held every year on October 10. However, We, the VFFDP will
remember 8 year old Huang Na who died on this date, 10 October 2004. We rather
remember murdered children then listen to abolitionists who show sympathy for
murderers. The Killer, Took Leng How was executed by hanging in Singapore on 3
November 2006.
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| Huang Na, the victim |
INTERNET
SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Huang_Na
Huang Na (simplified Chinese: 黄娜; traditional Chinese: 黃娜; pinyin: Huáng Nà) (26 September
1996 – 10 October 2004) was an eight-year-old Chinese national living at
the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre in Singapore, who disappeared on 10 October
2004. Her mother, the police and the community conducted a three-week-long
nationwide search for her. After her body was found, many Singaporeans attended
her wake and funeral, giving bai jin (帛金 bójīn, contributions towards funeral expenses)
and gifts. In a high-profile 14-day trial, Malaysian-born Took Leng How (Chinese:
卓良豪; pinyin: Zhuó Liángháo), a vegetable
packer at the wholesale centre, was found guilty of murdering her and hanged
after an appeal and a request for presidential clemency failed.
Background
Huang Na's father, Huang Qinrong, and
mother, Huang Shuying (simplified Chinese: 黄淑英; traditional Chinese: 黃淑英; pinyin: Huáng Shūyīng), were both
born in 1973 to farming families in Putian city in Fujian, People's Republic of
China. They met in 1995 and married soon after, as Shuying was pregnant with
Huang Na. In 1996, Qinrong left China to seek his fortune in Singapore and
worked illegally as a vegetable packer at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre.
When Shuying found out that he was having affairs in Singapore, she divorced
him and was given custody of Huang Na. She later married Zheng Wenhai (simplified
Chinese: 郑文海; traditional Chinese: 鄭文海; pinyin: Zhèng Wénhǎi), a Fujian
businessman with whom she had lived for four years, and became pregnant with
his child in early 2003.
In May 2003, Shuying immigrated to
Singapore as a peidu mama accompanying Huang Na, who was enrolled in Jin Tai
Primary School. They lived at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre, where Shuying
worked. People from the wholesale centre and Jin Tai Primary School described
Huang Na as an intelligent, independent, sociable and active child. Huang Na
became friends with Took Leng How, a vegetable packer at the wholesale centre. Born in Malaysia in 1981 as the second child of
a close-knit family of four, Took came to Singapore when he was 18, seeking
better-paying jobs. At the wholesale centre, he often played with Huang Na,
bought her food and gave her rides on his motorcycle.
Disappearance
and reaction
Huang Na went missing on 10 October
2004; she was last seen at a food court near the wholesale centre, barefoot and
wearing a blue denim jacket and bermuda shorts. From 7 a.m. to past midnight
every day for three weeks, Shuying looked across the island for her daughter.
The police, including a Criminal Investigation Department team, conducted an
intensive search for the girl, and police officers carried photographs of her
while on their daily rounds. Volunteers formed search parties and Crime Library,
a voluntary group dedicated to finding missing persons, distributed over 70,000
leaflets appealing for information. Two Singaporeans offered rewards of S$10,000
and S$5,000 for finding Huang Na, while the manager of an online design company
set up a website to raise awareness and gather tip-offs. The search even
extended to Malaysia, with volunteers putting up posters in the nearby cities
of Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur.
On 19 and 20 October, Singaporean
police questioned Took as part of their investigations; he said that three
Chinese men kidnapped the girl. After questioning Took, police accompanied him
home and to the police station again for a polygraph test. On the way, they
stopped at a restaurant along Pasir Panjang Road for a meal. While eating, Took
said he needed to go to the toilet, escaped, took a taxi to Woodlands and
sneaked across the Causeway to Malaysia. Singaporean police searched for him
until he turned himself in on 30 October, confessing that he had accidentally
strangled Huang Na during a game of hide-and-seek in a storeroom. The following
day, Huang Na's body was found at Telok Blangah Hill Park, and Took was charged
with her murder. Direct Singapore Funeral Services oversaw her funeral for
free. Thousands attended Huang Na's wake and funeral; some gave bai jin
and gifts, such as sweets, flowers and her favourite Hello Kitty merchandise.
However, some Singaporeans tried to make money from the girl's death by buying 4D
numbers associated with her. Others spread rumours that Shuying was having
affairs and was greedy for donations.
 |
|
Took Leng How, a Malaysian-born
man working in Singapore as a vegetable packer who was found guilty in a 2005
trial of the murder of Huang Na, a China-born student, in
2004. His appeal was turned down in January 2006, and a plea of clemency to the
President in October 2006. Took was executed by hanging.
|
Trial of
Took
The 14-day trial of Took began on 11
July 2005 before Justice Lai Kew Chai in the High Court. The prosecution relied
on 76 witnesses, a video in which Took re-enacted the murder, forensic evidence
and an autopsy that found several bruises on Huang Na's head. Based on the
evidence, the prosecution alleged that Took lured Huang Na to the storeroom,
then stripped and sexually assaulted her. After smothering and stomping on her
to ensure her death, he stored her body in nine layers of plastic bags stuffed
into a sealed cardboard box. The defence relied on the claim of diminished
responsibility. Psychiatrist R. Nagulendran argued that Took was schizophrenic,
as some of his behaviour, such as frequently smiling to himself and talking of
spirits, was inappropriate and he had no motive for the murder – Nagulendran
also called Took's story about the three Chinese men a delusion.
On 27 August 2005, Justice Lai ruled
that Took was guilty of murder and sentenced him to death. In his judgement,
Justice Lai noted that Took had no history of mental abnormality, the behaviour
the defence cited was "not necessarily abnormal" and the murder was
"clearly the product of a cold and calculating mind". Justice Lai
also said it was unnecessary to determine the motive for the murder or whether
a sexual assault had taken place. Took appealed the death sentence, but the
Court of Appeal of Singapore upheld the decision in January 2006. His relatives
gathered 35,000 signatures and submitted a clemency petition to President S R
Nathan, which was rejected in October 2006, after which he was hanged.
Aftermath
Zheng and Shuying returned to Putian
where Huang Na was buried in a tomb halfway up a mountain near their house.
While alive, Huang Na had asked that her surname be changed to her
stepfather's, so her altar tablet bore the name Zheng Na. The couple decided to
focus on raising their remaining child, with Zheng planning to pursue business
opportunities in Guangzhou or Shenzhen. In January 2007, Jack Neo considered
making a movie about the murder, but both families objected. A follow-up report
in 2009 found that Shuying had given birth to another two children and was
running a shoe distribution business in Taiwan.
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