 |
|
|
|
|
Fri, Aug 08, 2008
AsiaOne
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wife tells of day she met the mistress
|
|
|
>SHAH ALAM: Charges against a man who allegedly kidnapped and murdered his 7-year-old brother-in-law were dropped at the High Court yesterday following the man's suicide in his cell. Judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad ordered that the two charges against Kee Lian Kok, 30, be dropped after DPP Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin submitted a copy of his death certificate to the court.
Kee hanged himself in his cell on May 18, exactly two years after the boy, Ho Ping, was kidnapped. A note found near him requested that Ho Ping's family forgive him for what he had done.
This leaves Kee's mistress and co-accused, Su Qiao-mei, a Chinese national, to stand trial alone for the kidnap and murder of Ho Ping.
Su, 36, claimed trial yesterday to amended charges of kidnapping Ho Ping at a house in Jalan SS19/4A, Subang Jaya, at 7.30pm on May 18, 2006, and demanding RM500,000 ransom from the boy's father.
She was also charged with murdering the boy at a plantation in Changkat Meranti in Kampung Baru Manjung, Perak, between 2am and 3am the next day.
During the hearing, Ho Ping's sister, Ho Woon Chen, 28, told the court that she did not trust her husband after she found out about his affair with Su.
Asked by Su's counsel Leslie Bala during cross-examination if she had told Kee to fetch Ho Ping from school on the day of the kidnapping, Ho said: "I would never have done such a thing."
Ho said she did not know why Kee had picked up Ho Ping from school that day.
"My brother, Ho Kian Qiao usually picks him up. When we couldn't find him, I informed my father that he was missing," she said.
She later told the court that her father, Ho San Cheah, knew about Kee's affair with Su after Kee's parents informed him of it.
Leslie: When did you find out that Kee was having an affair with Su?
Ho: It was in 2005. Kee took me to Penang and introduced me to Su in a terrace house in Jawi, Penang. My husband told me that his relationship with Su was that of "a husband and wife". He then took me along with her to a nightclub.
Leslie: Did you try to advise him to stop the relationship?
Ho: I tried to but he shouted at me. He even threatened to divorce me and take our children away.
Leslie: Did you believe that he would carry out his threats?
Ho: Yes. That is why I eventually gave up asking him to stop seeing her and began thinking about a divorce.
Leslie: Did you try to contact Su to tell her to stay away from your husband?
Ho: No.
Leslie: You said earlier that your father did not trust your husband. Is this because of the affair?
Ho: There were other reasons as well.
Under re-examination, when Wan Shaharudin asked her why her family did not trust Kee, she said: "He always borrowed money from me. Once he even told me the money was to renew Su's visa. Even while he worked as a cashier in my father's shop, there was always money missing."
Hearing continues today.
|
|
| READERS' POSTINGS |
| |
|
STORY INDEX
|
|
|
|
|
|
