Two teens face death penalty

KLANG: Two teenagers are among six people who have been charged at two separate Magistrate’s Courts here with the murder of a moneylender.

Lau Zi Hui, 19, and Yap Soon Kuan, 18, were charged together with Tan Ah Chai, 27, and Yeo Ching Lian, 36, under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

They were charged before magistrate P. Sarulatha.

Earlier in the day, alleged accomplices Tan Yong Seng, 38, and Gan Kok Shang, 43, were charged in a different court before magistrate Amirul Abd Rashid for abetting the other four with the intent of committing the murder.

They were charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code which was read together with Section 302 of the same Code.

All the accused nodded to indicate they understood the allegations against them when the charges were read to them in Mandarin.

Ah Chai, Yeo, Lau and Yap are accused of murdering moneylender Phua Kian Meng in Jalan Batu Nilam 27A, Bandar Bukit Tinggi 2.

Yong Seng and Gan are accused of abetting them at the same location.

If found guilty, all six men face the death penalty.

No plea was recorded.

Deputy public prosecutors Nur Ain Madihah Zulkifli and Nur Ayuni Jamri prosecuted while all the accused, except for Yong Seng who was unrepresented, were represented by lawyers Lim Chi Chau, Ng Li Kian and Helen Fong.

Both Amirul and Sarulatha fixed Jan 31 for the case to be mentioned.

According to media reports, Phua, 47, was waylaid and hacked to death about noon on Nov 6 as he was walking to his car after having lunch with his two sons at a restaurant.

Former South Klang OCPD Asst Comm Shamsul Amar Ramli was quoted as saying that three men, armed with machetes, had approached Phua from behind the vehicle and started slashing away.

He added that the victim had run but collapsed shortly after and died in front of a neighbouring restaurant.

His sons, aged 10 and 18, were unhurt in the incident.

Police said the deceased had a record of seven offences under the Penal Code.