May 11, 2011
Man who killed step-daughter jailed for 10 years
By Selina Lum
Ong Pang Siew, 48, was jailed 10 years for killing his China-born teenage step-daughter. -- PHOTO: CRO
A FORMER private bus driver who escaped the gallows in November 2010 - for killing his China-born teenage step-daughter - was on Wednesday sent to jail by the High Court for 10 years.
Ong Pang Siew, 48, was all smiles and allowed by the court to chat with two siblings before he was led away. The sentence was backdated to October 2007. With the usual one-third remission for good behaviour, he should be released from prison in three years, said his lawyer Subhas Anandan.
In 2009, Ong, was given the mandatory death penalty after he was found guilty of murdering Ong Pan Hui, 15, in her Marsiling home in October 2007. Just two weeks before, her mother, Ms Xiu Yanhong, was granted a divorce from Ong and custody of Pan Hui and the son she bore with Ong.
On the night of the killing, Ong made his way to the Marsiling flat where his ex-wife and and the two children were staying and ended up strangling Pan Hui after an argument.
Ong appealed. Last November, the Court of Appeal, decided that he was suffering from depression which reduced his responsibility for the killing. The appeal court overturned his murder conviction and found him guilty of a lesser charge of culpable homicide, which carries up to 10 years' jail or life imprisonment.
The case was sent back to the High Court for sentencing. On Wednesday, prosecutors argued that Ong should be jailed for life as his actions were clearly the result of a 'vengeful and spiteful' streak. But Ong's defence argued that he was suffering from a major depressive episode.
