Couple charged with murdering maid escape the gallows

PUTRAJAYA: A couple who were charged with murdering their Cambodian maid by starving her to death, escaped the gallows after the Federal Court convicted them of a lesser charge.

In a unanimous decision, the court ordered store owner Soh Chew Tong and his wife Chin Chui Ling to be jailed 10 years each under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder without any intention to cause the death of Mey Sichan, 24.

Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif, who chaired the five-man panel, said the jail sentence should take into consideration the number of years the appellants had served in custody and prison.

He granted the couple's appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision on Oct 7, 2015, which sentenced them to death for murdering Mey Sichan, saying that there were doubts as to how the court arrived at the decision.

He said there were also doubts over the conviction under Section 304(a) of the Code meted out by the High Court.

"There is sufficient evidence to convict the appellants under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code. We sentence the appellants to 10 years' jail each," he said on Thursday (Jan 25).

The other judges on the panel were Justices Hasan Lah, Zaharah Ibrahim, Jeffrey Tan Kak Wha and Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin.

Clad in white and red prison clothes, Soh, 48, and Chin, 45, looked stunned upon hearing the verdict delivered by the panel.

As soon as the panel adjourned the proceedings, Chin burst into tears and immediately hugged her mother and a family member who rushed to the dock, before both were taken to the court lock-up.

Soh and Chin were alleged to have committed the offence at their home in Taman Asas Murni, Jalan Bukit Minyak in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, between Jan 1 and April 1, 2012.

The maid, who started working with the couple in July 2011, was found dead at the couple's shophouse with injuries on her body and was severely dehydrated.

She had sunken cheeks and eye sockets. She also only weighed 26.1kg at the time of her death.

On Oct 7, 2015, Soh and Chin were sentenced to death after the Court of Appeal restored their conviction to the original charge for the murder of Mey Sichan.

The couple were initially sentenced to 24 years' jail each by the Sessions Court in Penang on May 16, 2013 on a reduced charge of committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Met outside the courtroom, the appellants' co-counsel Datuk K. Kumaraendran said that his clients were in custody for almost three years and with a one-third remission for good behaviour, the couple would only serve four-and-a-half years.