By Wani Muthiah

SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA - A Chinese national escaped the gallows yesterday when the High Court here sentenced her to life imprisonment for kidnapping a seven-year-old boy in May 2006.

Earlier, Su Qiaomei was acquitted of another charge of murdering Ho Ping, whose body was stuffed in a bag and dumped into a river in Perak. The deceased was the brother-in-law of her married lover Kee Lian Kok, 28.

In July 2006, she was charged with kidnapping and murdering Ho Ping with Kee, a hawker.

Kee, however, committed suicide in his cell at the Sungai Buloh prison in May last year, leaving a note asking for forgiveness.

They had kidnapped Ho Ping from his house in Subang Jaya at about 7.30pm on May 18, for a ransom of RM500,000 (S$205,750).

The boy was later murdered between 2am and 3am the next day in Ladang Changkat Meranti, Kampung Baru Manjung, in Perak.

Justice Syed Ahmad Helmi Syed Ahmad said the defence had raised some doubts over Su Qiaomei's participation in the murder.

However, he held the prosecution had succeeded in proving beyond a reasonable doubt her involvement in the boy's kidnapping.

Defence counsel Leslie Bala earlier asked Justice Syed Ahmad to sentence Su Qiaomei to life imprisonment instead of death on the kidnapping conviction.

"She has two school-going children and aged parents who are farmers in China. She is the sole breadwinner and wants to return to China and put everything behind her," he said.

Meanwhile, DPP Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin asked for the death sentence for Su Qiaomei, saying a young boy was kidnapped and brutally killed.

"She had called Ho Ping's father for the ransom money even after knowing that the boy was dead," said Wan Shaharuddin.

However, Justice Syed Ahmad said he believed life imprisonment was the suitable punishment for Su Qiaomei and ordered the sentence to run from the date of her arrest.

--The Star/ANN