2 ex-property agents get 30 years jail for kidnapping businesswoman

 

The Court of Appeal reduced the natural life imprisonment sentence on two of the accused, but freed a third man.

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today sentenced two former real estate agents to 30 years jail after dismissing their appeals for kidnapping a businesswoman for a RM2 million ransom nine years ago.

Lew Ngee Chin was spared the rotan as he turned 50 last August, but Chin Yoon Tack @ Chin Yoon Tock, 48, was also sentenced to two strokes of the cane.

Lew and Chin and a third accused, Telaha Sanchis, 32, were sentenced by the Shah Alam High Court to natural life imprisonment in March 2020 after they were found guilty of kidnapping Lim Hoe at a wellness centre at Taman SEA in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, at about 6pm on Nov 10, 2015.

Telaha, who was unemployed, won his appeal today and his life imprisonment sentence was set aside.

The trio were charged under the Kidnapping Act 1961 read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code with the common intention to commit the offence.

However, judges have been given discretion since last year to impose a jail term of between 30 and 40 years, while whipping is discretionary for such cases.

Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, who led a three-member Court of Appeal bench, said the High Court judge did not commit any appealable error in the case of Lew and Chin to warrant any intervention.

“There is overwhelming evidence to establish a case beyond reasonable doubt against Lew and Chin,” said Vazeer, who sat with Justices Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and SM Komathy Suppiah.

Vazeer said the victim positively identified the two men in a car used to abduct her and in a shophouse where she was held captive.

“The victim’s DNA was also found in the car and the shophouse,” he said, adding that marked currency notes matched those recovered from the two men.

However, he said the money that Telaha led police to recover did not match that seized by the police.

“The victim also did identify him during the period she was confined. The element of common intention was not proved,” he said.

The facts of the case revealed that the three men abducted Lim at the health centre and held her captive for six days at a shophouse in Taman Bukit Anggerik, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

They initially demanded RM12 million from her two sons, but the amount was reduced to RM2 million. The money was left at a spot along the southbound New Klang Valley Expressway.

Lim was released on Nov 16, 2015, near the Sentul LRT station.

In a follow-up police operation, the three men were arrested and RM700,000 was later recovered.

Deputy public prosecutor Eyu Ghim Siang represented the prosecution, while lawyers Goh Kim Lian, K Vikneswaran and N Ratnavathy appeared for Lew, Chin and Telaha, respectively. - FMT