Took Leng How

Took Leng How (December 16, 1981 [ [http://www.todayonline.com/articles/150403.asp Took's clemency plea rejected] ] - November 3, 2006) (Chinese: 卓良豪 or 杜龍豪, Pinyin: "Dù Lóngháo"), was a Malaysian Chinese convicted of murdering eight-year old Huang Na in Singapore. He was the second child of Took Long Lai and Loo Swee Heow. [ [http://www.todayonline.com/articles/150403.asp Took's clemency plea rejected] ]

Took dropped out of school at the age of 15 while studying Form Three, and worked in various occupations, including repairman and hotel cook. He began working at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre in 2003. In the same year, he married Yuli, a Chinese Indonesian, in March 2003 when she was five months pregnant with their son, Shun Wang. They had first met in 2002 when she arrived in Penang to work as an electronics factory operator.

Murder of Huang Na

On 10 October 2004, Took coaxed Huang Na into a storeroom with mangoes and a game of hide and seek.cite news | url=http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,91371,00.html | title=He lured her into her trap | publisher=The New Paper | author=Genevieve Jiang | date=2005-07-13 | accessdate=2006-05-13] He tied her hands and feet as part of the game and left her in a dark room, where she accidentally knocked her head against some boxes. When he returned to the room, she was bleeding from the mouth. Seeing this, he panicked and strangled her to death with his bare hands, then undressed her to give the impression of a rape. After this, he wrapped her body in nine layers of plastic bags, stuffed her into a cardboard box sealed with adhesive tape, and left the box in the storeroom.

Later that day, he went back to his HDB flat in Telok Blangah Heights to watch television. At 8 p.m., he left his house in a borrowed motorcycle to transport the body to Telok Blangah Hill Park.

Escape from police escort and eventual arrest

Singapore police started to interview Took in connection with Huang Na's disappearance on 19 October 2004. [cite news | url=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/112758/1/.html | title=Police looking for Malaysian man last seen with missing girl | publisher=Channel NewsAsia | date=2004-10-21 | accessdate=2005-05-29]

On 21 October, when the police officers escorting Took for another round of questioning allowed him to drop by at a coffee shop for a meal "en route", he went to the toilet and escaped through an open back door. He hailed down a taxi, and asked the driver to send him to the Woodlands Checkpoint. At the checkpoint, Took went to the bus station, where the gate between the roads for buses entering and leaving Singapore had been left open, and used this gate to go onto the road for buses leaving Singapore at 3:38 a.m. in the morning.

After successfully crossing the causeway to the Malaysian side, he made his way to find his older brother, who brought him back to his hometown Penang. By then, Royal Malaysian Police had started a nationwide search for Took. He returned to Singapore and was arrested on 30 October. [cite news | url=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/112758/1/.html | title=Singapore police believe body found is that of missing girl | publisher=Channel NewsAsia | author=Joanne Leow and Lee Siew Li | date=2004-10-31 | accessdate=2006-02-03]

Trial

Findings

On 14 June 2005, the case's Preliminary Inquiry was presented to the High Court, and the trial proceeded between 11 July and 29 July. 75 witnesses took to the stands during the trial. In their opening statement on 11 July, 2005, the prosecutors alleged that Took had sexually assaulted Huang Na.

During the autopsy, the medical examiner found bruises on her right temple, scalp, chin, jaw and lips, concluding that the nature of death was asphyxia. The official cause of death was "acute airway occlusion".

The prosecution presented forensic evidence that linked Took and Huang Na to the crime scene. Investigators and forensic scientists found hair and blood traces at the scene, which forensic DNA analysis showed were from Huang Na. Investigators found a cigarette butt that contained traces of Took's saliva and a piece of adhesive tape with his fingerprints on it. However, forensic experts could not determine conclusively whether Took's semen was found in the crime scene.Fact|date=February 2007

Lim Chin Chin, senior forensic scientist from the Criminalistics Laboratory, Centre of Forensic Science noted that the end of one of the adhesive-tape strips on the cardboard box in which the body was found matched the end of a roll of adhesive tape found at the storeroom. The box had been sealed in "a very systematic manner" which could have been done by Took, a skilled packer.Fact|date=February 2007

Death penalty and appeals

On 26 August 2005, Took was found guilty for the murder and sentenced to death. He appealed to the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court requesting that the court change its verdict from murder to homicide, which has a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. On 25 January 2006, the 3-member Court of Appeal upheld the sentence in a two-to-one decision. Chief Justice Yong Pung How and Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin agreed with the decision of trial judge Lai Kew Chai, but Justice Kan Ting Chiu delivered a dissenting opinion as he felt that there was a reasonable doubt on Took's conviction. A clemency appeal to Singapore President S R Nathan was rejected [ cite news | title = Took's appeal dismissed, death term upheld for Huang Na's murder | date = 25 January 2006 | publisher = Channel NewsAsia | url = http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/189948/1/.html | author = Rita Zahara] despite a 34,000 signature petition against the death sentence delivered to the President by his lawyers on 12 May 2006. [cite news | url=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/207815/1/.html | title=34,000 people sign petition against Took Leng How's death sentence | publisher=Channel NewsAsia | date=2006-05-12 | accessdate=2006-05-13 | author=Joanne Leow]

Took was hanged before dawn on Friday, November 3, 2006 in Changi Prison. Prior to his hanging, family members brought in his favourite suits and took commemorative photographs on Monday, October 30, 2006, five days before he was hanged. [Lianhe Zaobao, 2006-4-11, Local news, Pg 9]

References