Murder of Huang Na

The 14-day trial of Took began on 11 July 2005 before Justice Lai Kew Chai in the High Court.[6][15] Took was represented by Singapore's most prominent lawyer Subhas Anandan, and another two lawyers Sunil Sudheesan and Anand Nalachandran. The prosecution relied on 76 witnesses, a video in which Took re-enacted the murder, forensic evidence and an autopsy that found several bruises on Huang Na's head. Based on the evidence, the prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Lawrence Ang, alleged that Took lured Huang Na to the storeroom, then stripped and sexually assaulted her. After smothering and stomping on her to ensure her death, he stored her body in nine layers of plastic bags stuffed into a sealed cardboard box.[15][17][18] However, there was no conclusive proof that Huang Na had been sexually assaulted due to her body’s high state of decomposition and the absence of semen in her vaginal area. The cause of her death was also determined inconclusive due to the possibility that she had died from a seizure or other cause unrelated to Took's alleged actions. The principal determination was that asyphxia was the cause of her death.

The defence relied on the claim of diminished responsibility. Psychiatrist R. Nagulendran argued that Took was schizophrenic, as some of his behaviour, such as frequently smiling to himself and talking of spirits, was inappropriate and that he had no motive for the murder. Nagulendran also called Took's story about the three Chinese men a delusion.[13] Anandan said that during his conversations with Took, the defendant would frequently start ranting about irrelevant things the lawyer could not understand. This resulted in his decision not to allow Took to take the stand. Instead, he allowed a psychiatrist to testify on Took’s behalf. Took’s police statements contained numerous discrepancies from the many different accounts of what happened to Huang Na. Took's low IQ of 76 was also noted by his defence. However, the prosecution's psychiatrist G. Sathyadevan, insisted that Took did not suffer from any abnormality of mind.[18][19]

On 27 August 2005, Justice Lai found Took guilty of murder and sentenced him to death.[8] In his judgement, Justice Lai noted that Took had no history of mental abnormality, the behaviour the defence cited was "not necessarily abnormal", and the murder was "clearly the product of a cold and calculating mind". Justice Lai also said it was unnecessary to determine the motive for the murder or whether a sexual assault had taken place.[20]

Took appealed the death sentence, but the Court of Appeal of Singapore upheld the decision in January 2006 by a 2–1 decision. Chief Justice Yong Pung How and Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin agreed with Justice Lai's decision to convict Took of murder, while High Court judge Kan Ting Chiu disagreed with the murder conviction due to the cause of death being inconclusive. In his dissenting judgement, Justice Kan felt that the appropriate conviction for Took should be voluntarily causing hurt and the maximum penalty Took should receive would be a year's imprisonment.[19]

Later, Took's family and relatives decided to submit a clemency plea to the President S. R. Nathan, which would allow Took's sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment if accepted. Eventually, they gathered 35,000 signatures from members of the public and submitted it to Nathan, who took eight months to consider before he decided to reject the plea in October 2006.[21]

On the morning of 3 November 2006, 24-year-old Took Leng How was hanged in Changi Prison.

Zheng and Shuying returned to Putian where their daughter Huang Na was buried in a tomb halfway up a mountain near their house.[22] While alive, Huang Na had asked that her surname be changed to her stepfather's, so her altar tablet bore the name Zheng Na.[2] The couple decided to focus on raising their remaining child, with Zheng planning to pursue business opportunities in Guangzhou or Shenzhen.[22] In January 2007, three years after Huang Na's death, Jack Neo considered making a movie about the murder, but both families objected.[23] A follow-up report in 2009 found that Shuying had given birth to another two children and was running a shoe distribution business in Taiwan.[24]

The murder of Huang Na was considered as a notable crime that shook Singapore. In July 2015, Singapore's national daily newspaper The Straits Times published an e-book titled Guilty As Charged: 25 Crimes That Have Shaken Singapore Since 1965, which included the Huang Na murder case. The book was the product of collaboration between the Singapore Police Force and the newspaper itself. The e-book was edited by ST News Associate editor Abdul Hafiz bin Abdul Samad. The paperback edition of the book was published and first hit the bookshelves in late June 2017. The paperback edition first entered the ST bestseller list on 8 August 2017, a month after its publication.[25][26]

The case of Took Leng How was widely regarded as one of the notable cases taken by veteran lawyer Subhas Anandan, along with those of Leong Siew Chor (who killed and dismembered his lover in 2005), Anthony Ler (who hired a teen to murder his wife in 2001) and Tan Chor Jin (who robbed and gunned down a nightclub owner in 2006). Mr Subhas recorded Took's case in his memoir The Best I Could, which was first published in 2009. In the memoir, Subhas firmly believed even after Took's execution that Took did not deserve to be sentenced to death, believed that his client was mentally ill and that the murder conviction was wrong. Subhas also expressed that he was greatly disappointed by the fact that Took lost his appeal against the death sentence,[19] a fact which was supported by his 28-year-old son Sujesh Anandan who spoke to The Straits Times four years after his 67-year-old father's death from heart failure in 2015.

Sujesh, who was Subhas's first and only child, told the reporters that when he was a teen, he witnessed his father being greatly affected by the appeal verdict of Took's case and took it badly. Sunil Sudheesan, one of the two lawyers assisting Subhas in defending Took Leng How, said that he and the other lawyer, Anand Nalachandran, were also shaken by the case like Subhas. After Took was executed, Subhas also attended Took's funeral together with his two other lawyers who assisted him in Took's case, a move that he did in secret.[27][28]

Liz Porter, a crime writer from Australia, included Huang Na's case in her book Crime Scene Asia: When Forensic Evidence Becomes the Silent Witness. The book was about murder cases from Asia that were solved through forensic evidence; these recorded cases came from Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.[18]