Yishun triple killer to hang

THE Chinese national who killed three women in a flat in Yishun three years ago was sentenced by the High Court to hang for the murder of one of them.

Wang Zhijian, 46, was tried for the murder of his lover, Zhang Meng, 42, her daughter Feng Jianyu, 17, and their flatmate Yang Jie, 36, in their Yishun flat.

Yang’s daughter Li Meilin, then 15, was also slashed, but she survived. All of them were from China.

Delivering his verdict yesterday, Justice Chan Seng Onn accepted Wang’s defence of diminished responsibility for the killing of Zhang and Jianyu; the judge found Wang guilty of a lower charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The defence psychiatrist had testified during the 10-day trial that Wang was suffering from a prolonged depressive reaction at the time of the killing, which reduced his mental culpability for his acts.

However, Justice Chan said that by the time Wang attacked Yang and Meilin in their bedroom, a sufficient time interval had passed for him to recover his mental faculties and regain his self-control.

Murder carries the mandatory death penalty. The punishment for culpable homicide is life imprisonment or up to 20 years’ jail, and caning or a fine. But Justice Chan said he will sentence Wang on these two charges after his appeal on the murder conviction. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network