PUTRAJAYA – A 36-year-old part-time computer technician escaped the noose after the Federal Court here commuted his death sentence to 38 years in jail for kidnapping and murdering his “internet friend” in 2007.
The panel, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, also handed down a total of 17 strokes of the cane – 12 for murder and five for kidnapping.
Yan Wai Seng is to serve his punishment concurrently – 38 years in jail for kidnapping and similarly for murder – from the day he was arrested on May 1, 2007.
Sitting with Tengku Maimun on the panel were Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang and Datuk Nordin Hassan.
Yan, who was 19 years old when he committed the crime, was charged together with Chew Wai Keong before the Ipoh High Court.
They were convicted and given the death penalty on December 3, 2012, while the Court of Appeal affirmed the high court’s decision on February 5, 2014.
However, Chew died when their appeal to the Federal Court was scheduled for hearing.
Chew’s appeal was struck out while the apex court upheld Yan’s conviction on February 23, 2018.
Yan and Chew kidnapped 31-year-old Teh Wai Toong, together, from April 20 to 26, 2007, and killed him between April 26 and 29.
During the trial, the victim’s sister, Teh Wei Leng, testified that she was informed by the victim on April 20 that he would be heading to Penang to meet a friend he knew online – nicknamed “Dolphine” – before planning to return home in Melaka on April 23.
However, she said, her brother never made it home and she received a message from the offenders that they had kidnapped Wai Toong and demanded RM200,000 ransom.
She added that she was supposed to meet the kidnapper to hand off the ransom on April 29.
Due to confusing instructions about the meeting point, she did not meet the kidnapper and the ransom was not paid.
On the same day, an individual, who turned prosecution witness, said he saw a naked body, wrapped in a blue-coloured cloth and tied with a raffia string at a dump site in Sg Siput, Perak.
Later, the family identified the body as Wai Toong. – June 21, 2024