Gang member jailed 10 years for killing a man in 2000
Getty Images file photo
See Chee Keong was a secret society member who had committed culpable homicide and drug trafficking in two countries.
He was involved in a fatal assault that left one man dead in Singapore on 17 May 2000 but ran away to Thailand a day after committing the offence. He continued to run foul of the law, and was arrested in Cambodia for drug trafficking on 3 December 2000 and sentenced to 18 years in jail.
See served 13 years after receiving a royal pardon but he did not walk free upon his release in Cambodia. Instead, he was extradited back to Singapore in November 2013 to face the law for his part in the assault.
On Wednesday (20 April), See, 50, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in the High Court for killing Leong Fook Weng, at a vacant plot along Kheam Hock Road. The balding and bespectacled man pleaded guilty to one count of culpable homicide not amounting to murder before Justice Chan Seng Onn.
Court papers revealed that See, along with four other secret society members, Tay Teik Chai Robson, Lim Hin Teck, Ong Chin Hock, and William Ho Kah Wei, were having supper at River Valley Road at about 4.30 am on 17 May 2000. Tay was affiliated to the Lo Kuan secret society while See, Lim, Ong, and Ho were part of the Sio Ang Kun secret society.
During the supper, Lim revealed that Leong had insulted him because of a loan owed to him by the victim. Lim said that he wanted to engage in a fight with Leong.
Stabbed in the neck and chest
See contacted Leong and found out that he was at a wake at Boon Keng Road. He later drove Tay, Lim, Ong and Ho in his car to the wake.
When they arrived at the wake, See and Tay assaulted Leong. The victim claimed that he was a member of Lo Kuan and called the head of the secret society, Tay Kim Guan, who agreed to meet the group at a petrol station at Swanage Road.
Upon reaching the petrol station, Kim Guan said that Leong was not a member of his gang. Leong tried to leave by hailing a taxi but was stopped and dragged into See’s car where he was assaulted again in the back seat.
See then drove his car to Kheam Hock Road where he, Tay, Lim, Ong and Ho alighted and they continued to assault Leong. Using a blade concealed in a lighter, See stabbed Leong in the neck and chest.
The five men then stripped Leong, took his wallet and left the scene. Leong’s body was discovered at around 11 am and he was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.
In 2003, Tay was jailed for nine years and received 12 strokes of the cane, and Ho was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. Lim and Ong are currently still at large.
Family support for See
In mitigation, See’s lawyer, James Masih said that his client had spent his days in the Cambodian jail regretting his actions. See had also consumed drugs before committing the offence in Singapore and that could have affected his actions, Masih said.
The lawyer also produced two letters in court from See’s eldest daughter and ex-wife who both pleaded for leniency. See’s daughter stated in her letter that she is willing to look after him after his release from jail, and added that he was a loving father to her and her two younger siblings.
In his judgment, Justice Chan said that See was the only one who was armed during the assault and had inflicted the fatal wound on his victim. “You are fortunate that one of your children is willing to let you live with her upon your release and I hope that you have learnt your lesson,” he said.
