SINGAPORE - A 50-year-old secret society member, who fled Singapore in 2000 after fatally stabbing a 36-year-old man in a fight, was on Wednesday (April 20) jailed 10 years after he pleaded guilty to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
See Chee Keong was 34 years old when he stabbed odd-job labourer Leong Fook Weng in the heart. He was deported to Singapore in November 2013 after spending 13 years in a Cambodian prison for drug trafficking before he was released on a royal pardon.
See is the second assailant to be jailed over the death of Mr Leong, who was attacked for 15 minutes at a vacant plot near a cemetery along Kheam Hock Road in the early hours of May 17, 2000.
The first assailant, Robson Tay Teik Chai, 36, was sentenced in 2003 to nine years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for culpable homicide. He had also fled Singapore and spent two years in prison in France for drug trafficking.
Two other alleged assailants, Ong Chin Huat and Lim Hin Teck, are still at large.
The day Mr Leong was stabbed, Lim complained to the three and another person, William Ho Kah Wei, over supper at a River Valley Road coffee shop that he was unhappy with Mr Leong for insulting him.
The group then drove to Upper Boon Keng Road after finding out that Mr Leong was attending a funeral wake there.
They then left together to see a secret society headman to verify Mr Leong's affiliations and so that he could return money he owed to the head of the gang.
After the money was repaid and the headman said that Mr Leong was not a member of his gang, the group continued beating up the former in a car, driven by See.
After Mr Leong repaid the money to Tay, the group continued beating up the former in a car, driven by See.
When they got to the vacant plot at Kheam Hock Road, three of the men continued assaulting Mr Leong. See used a blade that was concealed in a lighter and stabbed the victim in the neck and chest.
Mr Leong was then stripped to his underwear and his wallet taken from his motionless body before the group left the scene.
Ho was given the maximum jail term of six months in 2003 for not reporting the crime.
Correction Note: The article has been edited for clarity.
