Cabby already dead when ransom demand was
made
By Leong Wee Keat, TODAY | Posted: 07
March 2011 2341 hrs
SINGAPORE - When cabby Yuen Swee Hong, 58, failed to
return to his Serangoon home from his shift on April 11, 2009,
Madam Chan Oi Lin called her husband's mobile phone and was met
with a threat from a man with a mainland Chinese accent.
He said that he had kidnapped Mr Yuen and that the cabby "is going
to die".
He demanded $150,000 in ransom.
But unknown to Mdm Chan, her husband was probably already
dead.
Opening the prosecutor's case in the High Court murder trial
against Chinese national Wang Wenfeng, 32, Deputy Public Prosecutor
(DPP) Eugene Lee also told the court that the cabby had up to five
stab wounds on his shirt and his taxi - found in a multi-storey
carpark in Canberra Link - was splattered with blood.
DPP Lee added that it was Wang who led the police to Mr Yuen's
decomposed body, hidden in a forested area in Sembawang on April
17, 2009.
He also led the police into a forested area at Nee Soon Road where
a haversack containing two knives and other items such as gloves,
cable ties and nylon rope were found.
In court, Mdm Chan recalled the shock and anguish when the ransom
demand was made.
The widow told the court that she received another call and managed
to reduce the ransom amount to $80,000.
Their son alerted the police.
The next day, Mdm Chan and the male caller settled on a sum of
$5,000, to be delivered at Marsiling MRT station.
There, she received a text message to remit the money into a China
Construction Bank account.
She refused as she wanted to hear her husband's voice first.
She waited there for many hours without avail and went home.
The man called again and asked her if she had remitted the
money.
"I replied again that I did not know how to do so. He replied that
he did not care and ended the call abruptly. That was the last time
I heard from the male caller," said Mdm Chan.
The vctim's brother, Mr Yuen Peng Yin, who was with Mdm Chan at
that time, told the court that they did not remit the money as they
thought it was a scam.
Wang's wife, Mdm Gong Wenying, testified that her husband "was
stressed over money" and "appeared to be desperate" to raise money
for his mother's cancer treatment.
Wang, a general worker, had also mentioned selling his organs to
raise money.
"I was not sure if he was serious but I advised him that we had
time to make money as we were still young," said Mdm Gong.
Wang's co-tenant, Mr Chen Yongquan, said that on April 10 - the
night before the alleged murder - Wang left the flat with a
haversack and claimed that Wang said he "needed to do something
outside".
When Mr Chen commented that it was already late, Wang replied
"robbery".
"I thought he was joking," said Mr Chen.
Wang was arrested at People's Park Complex on April 13, 2009 after
he collected a one-way ticket to Xiamen, China.
The hearing continues.
- TODAY
