SIBU: A woman was sentenced to death by the High Court here today for abetting the murder of her husband five years ago.
Judge Datuk Norcahaya Arshad said it had been proven beyond doubt that Ling Hang Tsyr, 36, abetted in the murder of her husband, 31-year-old Wong Jing Kui, at their Jalan Ulu Sg Merah home at 1.30am on June 14, 2012.
“The accused is found guilty as charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code and convicted and sentenced to death by hanging to the neck until death,” she said.
Ling was seen with her head bowed when the sentence was read to her in Mandarin by a court interpreter.
The bank credit recovery clerk was accused of committing the offence with her boyfriend, Tiong King Guan, 31.
Norcahaya said among the grounds for the conviction was that Ling and Tiong were more than just cordial friends as evidenced by the frequently keep in touch SMSes and calls between them.
She said this quashed the claim by the accused that the communications between them were merely bank-customer relationship.
“There were at least 20 SMSes per day. There is nothing to suggest that she did the same to other customers,” she said, adding that that the active communication showed they were more than just friends.
The principal offender, Ling Hoe Ing, 28 had been charged and convicted under an alternative charge, made under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder after he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 years’ jail on Oct 1, 2013.
Norcahaya said, the accused had aided and abetted the murder by giving information on the unlocked bedroom door to Tiong, who later instructed Ling via SMS to commit the murder.
She said the murder was initiated after the deceased proceeded to divorce her.
Prior to this, Ling and Tiong were given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for their charge of abetting in murder.
The prosecution appealed and on Feb 10, 2015, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and restored the charge of abetting in murder on the two under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 302 of the same code.
Tiong, however, went missing and is still at large, with the deceased’s family offering a RM50,000 reward to the public to locate him.
Ling’s defence counsel, Roger Chin and Lim Heng Choo ,applied for her to be transferred from Sibu Central Prison to Kuching Prison pending an appeal.