MALAYSIA: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR FIRE MURDER

the Court of Appeal in Malaysia dismissed the appeal of a 48 year old site supervisor for causing the death of his wife, son and four of her relatives by setting fire to a shophouse. Court of Appeal judges Justices Low Hop Bing, Abdull Hamid Embong and Vincent Ng unanimously upheld the death sentence of Yeap Bon Hai delivered by the Shah Alam High Court on Nov 2, 2001. Yeap was first produced in the magistrate’s court on April 30, 1997, and charged with six counts of murder. He was convicted for killing his wife Kee Sok Kiang, 34, son Yeap Chook Wei, 12, his brother-in-law Kee Kim Hup, 30, his mother-in-law Khor Seik Lang, 59, her sister Khim Im, 38, and her brother Chai Peng, 46. They were killed in the fire at a double-storey shophouse in Taman Sri Serdang, Serdang in Selangor, at 3.50am on April 14.