<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Sep 30, 2008
MARSILING MURDER TRIAL
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>'I saw accused sitting on body'
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Tenant tells court how stepdad hit teen, 15, before he strangled her </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Selina Lum
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Ms Xiu, the victim's mother, tells the court her ex-husband once threatened to kill her. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A COUPLE of hours after quarrelling with her ex-husband, Ms Xiu Yanhong got a shocking phone call from a woman sharing her flat.
Her ex-husband, Ong Pang Siew, was in the Marsiling apartment, strangling her teenage daughter from a previous marriage.
Frantic, Ms Xiu, who was on her way home in a taxi, told her tenant to beat off Ong, a private bus driver, and called the police.
The 39-year-old, however, soon received a chilling phone call, this time from Ong telling her that he had killed 15-year-old Pan Hui.
Yesterday, details of the killing were heard in the High Court as Ong, 46, went on trial for Pan Hui's murder on Oct 20 last year.
Ong's defence to the charge, which carries a mandatory death penalty, is that he was severely depressed at the time, which reduced his mental responsibility for the killing.
Yesterday, Ms Xiu, who is originally from China, was composed for most of her time on the stand.
The court heard that she first came to Singapore to work in a factory in 1997. She now runs a beauty and massage parlour in Tanjong Katong. She became a Singapore citizen after she married Ong in 2002, and the two have a five-year-old son.
She bristled when Ong's lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan, quizzed her about her massage work.
Mr Anandan portrayed Ms Xiu as greedy, saying she continued working at massage parlours despite Ong's objections.
'I don't think I should be here defending myself because my work has nothing to do with my daughter's death,' she said.
Mr Anandan also suggested that she married Ong to get Singapore citizenship, and that she made it difficult for Ong to see their son after their divorce.
She disagreed, describing Ong as a verbally abusive man who once threatened to kill her, Pan Hui and their son.
She moved to the rented Marsiling flat with the two children in April last year.
On the day of Pan Hui's killing, one of Ms Xiu's former sub-tenants, a polytechnic student from China, was in the flat when Ong came over.
Ms Zhao Jing testified that Ong and the girl were talking normally at first. She even heard Ong laughing.
But soon, when Ms Zhao was in her bedroom, she heard Pan Hui's screams coming from the living room.
Ms Zhao said she emerged to see Ong grabbing the teen's hair and hitting her head on the floor. He was shouting 'Who am I?' in Mandarin.
Ms Zhao said Ong had told her that Ms Xiu had abandoned him.
Pan Hui told her to call the police, but Ms Zhao thought it was 'not good', as it was a case of family violence.
=> Even an FTrash knows that if Yellow's poodles can be depended on to protect the people, even the sow would be able to climb up a coconut tree?
After she called Ms Xiu, she went out to the living room and saw Ong's hands around Pan Hui's neck. Pan Hui's face was purplish, and she was not moving.
Ms Zhao then ran out to ask neighbours for help. When she returned, Ong was sitting on top of Pan Hui.
Ms Zhao said when she asked Ong why he killed Pan Hui, he started criticising Ms Xiu and railing against Chinese women.
[email protected]
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About the case
PRIVATE bus driver Ong Pang Siew, 46, is on trial for the murder of his China-born teenage stepdaughter.
He is accused of strangling Ong Pan Hui, 15, at her mother's Marsiling flat during the night of Oct 20 last year.
The teenager came to Singapore in 2002 after Ong wed her mother, Ms Xiu Yanhong.
The couple, who have a five-year-son, divorced last year.
The trial opened yesterday and is scheduled to be heard for another seven days.
Prosecutors, expected to call a total of 40 witnesses, did not suggest a possible motive in their opening statement.
Ms Xiu testified about her relationship with Ong and the break-up of their marriage. Her former tenant, polytechnic student Zhao Jing, who was in the flat at the time of the killing, also gave an account of the events.
If convicted of murder, Ong faces a mandatory death penalty. Prosecution witnesses expected to take the stand today include a forensic pathologist, Ong's drinking buddies and his older brother.
MARSILING MURDER TRIAL
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>'I saw accused sitting on body'
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Tenant tells court how stepdad hit teen, 15, before he strangled her </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Selina Lum
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Ms Xiu, the victim's mother, tells the court her ex-husband once threatened to kill her. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A COUPLE of hours after quarrelling with her ex-husband, Ms Xiu Yanhong got a shocking phone call from a woman sharing her flat.
Her ex-husband, Ong Pang Siew, was in the Marsiling apartment, strangling her teenage daughter from a previous marriage.
Frantic, Ms Xiu, who was on her way home in a taxi, told her tenant to beat off Ong, a private bus driver, and called the police.
The 39-year-old, however, soon received a chilling phone call, this time from Ong telling her that he had killed 15-year-old Pan Hui.
Yesterday, details of the killing were heard in the High Court as Ong, 46, went on trial for Pan Hui's murder on Oct 20 last year.
Ong's defence to the charge, which carries a mandatory death penalty, is that he was severely depressed at the time, which reduced his mental responsibility for the killing.
Yesterday, Ms Xiu, who is originally from China, was composed for most of her time on the stand.
The court heard that she first came to Singapore to work in a factory in 1997. She now runs a beauty and massage parlour in Tanjong Katong. She became a Singapore citizen after she married Ong in 2002, and the two have a five-year-old son.
She bristled when Ong's lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan, quizzed her about her massage work.
Mr Anandan portrayed Ms Xiu as greedy, saying she continued working at massage parlours despite Ong's objections.
'I don't think I should be here defending myself because my work has nothing to do with my daughter's death,' she said.
Mr Anandan also suggested that she married Ong to get Singapore citizenship, and that she made it difficult for Ong to see their son after their divorce.
She disagreed, describing Ong as a verbally abusive man who once threatened to kill her, Pan Hui and their son.
She moved to the rented Marsiling flat with the two children in April last year.
On the day of Pan Hui's killing, one of Ms Xiu's former sub-tenants, a polytechnic student from China, was in the flat when Ong came over.
Ms Zhao Jing testified that Ong and the girl were talking normally at first. She even heard Ong laughing.
But soon, when Ms Zhao was in her bedroom, she heard Pan Hui's screams coming from the living room.
Ms Zhao said she emerged to see Ong grabbing the teen's hair and hitting her head on the floor. He was shouting 'Who am I?' in Mandarin.
Ms Zhao said Ong had told her that Ms Xiu had abandoned him.
Pan Hui told her to call the police, but Ms Zhao thought it was 'not good', as it was a case of family violence.
=> Even an FTrash knows that if Yellow's poodles can be depended on to protect the people, even the sow would be able to climb up a coconut tree?
After she called Ms Xiu, she went out to the living room and saw Ong's hands around Pan Hui's neck. Pan Hui's face was purplish, and she was not moving.
Ms Zhao then ran out to ask neighbours for help. When she returned, Ong was sitting on top of Pan Hui.
Ms Zhao said when she asked Ong why he killed Pan Hui, he started criticising Ms Xiu and railing against Chinese women.
[email protected]
<HR width="50%" SIZE=1>
About the case
PRIVATE bus driver Ong Pang Siew, 46, is on trial for the murder of his China-born teenage stepdaughter.
He is accused of strangling Ong Pan Hui, 15, at her mother's Marsiling flat during the night of Oct 20 last year.
The teenager came to Singapore in 2002 after Ong wed her mother, Ms Xiu Yanhong.
The couple, who have a five-year-son, divorced last year.
The trial opened yesterday and is scheduled to be heard for another seven days.
Prosecutors, expected to call a total of 40 witnesses, did not suggest a possible motive in their opening statement.
Ms Xiu testified about her relationship with Ong and the break-up of their marriage. Her former tenant, polytechnic student Zhao Jing, who was in the flat at the time of the killing, also gave an account of the events.
If convicted of murder, Ong faces a mandatory death penalty. Prosecution witnesses expected to take the stand today include a forensic pathologist, Ong's drinking buddies and his older brother.
