Malaysia's most infamous case! Beautiful school flowers were kidnapped and burned, but the culprit escaped death penalty

Malaysia

This sweet-looking girl is named Lai Yingxing. She is not only a clear tooth, but also a well-known school flower. Yet on the night of September 11, 2008, four pairs of eyes hidden in the dark quietly fixed on her, and the young beautiful girl ended up dying in the wilderness and her body was heavily burned.

This case was the most infamous kidnapping of kulai school flowers in Malaysia. Seventeen years have passed since the murder, and the killer was sentenced to death five years later. However, in May 2024, the case took a major turn that rekindled public anger and controversy over the tragedy.

I. Excellent kind

Lai Ying Hing lives in Kulai County, Johor, Malaysia, where 60% of the population is Chinese and only 61 km from Singapore. On the night of September 11, 2008, a kidnapping case against Lai Yingxing quietly took place, and after contacting her late daughter, her parents chose to call the police.

Until 6:20 the next morning, the restless heart finally became a reality, and the kidnappers called and demanded $60,000 for ransom. But strangely enough, the girl's family is not rich, and the kidnapper why chose her?

Lai Yingxing was born on April 16, 1992 in Guulai County, the third oldest in the family, with two sisters and a younger brother, welcomed this lovely little girl, and the whole family was full of joy.

She has been beautiful since childhood, and after entering puberty, she has become very elegant. In addition to her outstanding appearance, she is also very fashionable. Whether it is hair or clothes, she is at the front end of the trend, and she is still a real student.

In middle school, she attended one of the best schools in ancient times - Sultan Ibrakhin Middle School. Lai Yingxing has excellent grades, always ranked in the top, for her to study is a very easy thing, in the evaluation test of the junior year, she got a good score of 7A1B. Plus she loves dancing and is a member of the school troll team, very active.

Although her academic performance is a good one in school, she is never proud, her personality is also very easy-going, she always has a sweet smile on her face, and she is especially generous, often invites her classmates to eat and watch movies, very popular with everyone.

Because his family is not rich, independent and sensible, Lai Yingxing wants to earn his household by working part-time, thus reducing the burden on the family. Despite parents' opposition to this, they want her daughter to focus on school, Lai is insistent that she sees it as her part of the responsibility.

Since then, Lai Yingxing has worked as a part-time salesman in a clothing store in the Kulai Manor Shopping Center. She is loved by the shop owner for being good and clever. However, it was this heavy sense of family responsibility that brought her to an early end on September 11, 2008 and should have had a beautiful life.

Second, the sky falls bad luck

On that day, Lai Yingxing went to work in the shopping mall as usual, and the streets were bustling in the evening, but only missing her back home figure. The 16 year old girl just went nowhere and never came home again.

The parents were worried at first, but the daughter's phone was still unanswered and the message was not answered, this was not her style. Lai Yingxing usually goes out, will tell his parents where he went, and it is impossible not to explain. As time went by, their worries started to turn into panic, and they spent a sleepless night after calling the police.

The next morning at 6:20 a.m., a phone call broke through the silence, saw the call showed her daughter's number, Lai mother happily grabbed the phone, didn't want the voice of a man, and the other party's next words, it was to give them a good drink. "Your daughter has been kidnapped, get the $60,000 ransom ready. the " " "

And that $60,000 is a small amount for the Rai family. They rushed to call the police again to explain the situation, and the police quickly set up a task force to start a full investigation and intensive search, hoping to quickly find the kidnappers.

Next, the Lai family is struggling to make money, but this money is more difficult for this ordinary family to get together in a short time. On the other hand, the news of her daughter's kidnapping also went away. Everyone was shocked by this. One of the male friends of Lai Yingxing came to Lai's home for the first time, accompanied by the two elderly people to care for comfort, and repeatedly urged Lai's father and mother to hand over the ransom as soon as possible, so as not to make

After fighting the East, the Lai family only raised 33,000 yuan, and the kidnappers also seemed very cautious, they used Lai Yingxing's phone every time, but the time was no longer than 30 seconds. As soon as they finished talking, the Lai family was unable to contact each other.

During this process, the kidnappers changed the location of the ransom four times until early morning of the 15th, when they finally set the location of the ransom in a grass in a garden area in Kulai.

At 3am on the 15th, a friend of Lai Yingxing placed the ransom at the designated location, disturbingly, no news came after, what exactly was the situation that made the whole family restless.

The police are secretly monitoring the transfer of the ransom. At 6:15 pm that day, police stopped a Malaysian-owned Kenbala car on the outskirts of Kulai and arrested three suspects. Found a bag of Rai's ransom in the car with cash in it.

At 7:05 p.m., police arrested three more suspects in Kulai District. 7:15, third arrest, another suspect was arrested in the Princess Town area. Three of the suspects were not involved in the case after investigation and were released. Four other people, aged between 16 and 22 years old, were charged.

22-year-old Yao Jinhong, 17-year-old Liang Shunlong, 16-year-old Huang Shunxing and Huang Jiawei, all four have dropped out of school, have no criminal record, and all know

Shockingly, one of the suspects was a male friend who had been with Lai's parents, and it was precisely because he kept lobbying Li's family to pay the ransom as soon as possible that caused the family to suspect, which led the police to lock him in advance.

三、died of youthful young age

Then, after a series of trials, the four suspects confessed the heartbreaking truth. Lai Yingxing is dead, which completely shattered the last hope the Lai parents desperately held.

On September 17th, they brought the police to the dump site, this is the princess city of Kulai County, a nearby open area, weeds are growing, located on the road of the toll station, about 100 meters from the main road, is in development, usually rarely visited, occasionally some people who lack public morals, will take out the garbage here.

It can be said that the scene of the dump is ugly, as it has been dead for a few days, there is a strong smell. Lai Ying Hing's body was found in a weed patch in the clearing, highly rotten, the lower body was severely burned, and there were burns on the face. Police found an earth pit about 1 foot deep at the scene, where the culprits should have carried out the destruction.

The Lai family had to face this cruel reality that their beloved daughter has been gone forever. Forensics reports show that the deceased was strangled and suffocated for more than 24 hours, not excluding being killed on the day of the kidnapping and then attempting to burn the body. Hatefully, these four continue to demand ransom from their families after that.

So how would they why target Lai Yingxing and commit such an unforgivable crime? For a while, there was a lot of talk about the motive of the crime of the four people. There were news that Lai Yingxing because of his beautiful appearance, and many suitors around him, one of the four suspects had been obsessed with Lai Yingxing for a long time, but because of love, he was resentful, so he ended up with three other accomplices plotting to kidnap and

Lai Yingxing already has a boyfriend and has been dating for over a year. According to her, her girlfriend had complained to him a month or two before she was killed that a 22-year-old man was always harassing her, including calling and texting. And this man refers to the oldest of the four involved in the case, Jiang Jinhong.

Lai Yingxing boyfriend said, because although his girlfriend is not old, she is mature and knows how to distinguish between good and bad, she will not be easily fooled, this also makes him very reassured. When his girlfriend mentioned this, she just reminded the other party to be careful in everything. He believes that Li can handle emotional problems, but did not expect the other party to be so sad.

He expressed deep regret and should have guessed that the killer was someone who knew him and his girlfriend. According to his understanding, Mr. Jiang had previously worked as a haircut, and he had heard that the man had mental problems, including violence against his ex-girlfriend.

At first the kidnapper's blackmail calls were all to Lai's mother, then he called him to hurry up and pay money. On his girlfriend's phone, the name of his number was set to "dear", but when the gangster called, he said his name at the moment, apparently knowing him, so it was suspected that an acquaintance was committed at the time.

Since then, Lai Yingxing's boyfriend worked with Lai's family to actively raise money, including swiping credit cards, and raising money from colleagues and friends everywhere, but in the end he could not wait for his girlfriend's safe return

IV. A variety of arguments

On September 24, 2008, Lai Yingxing's body was cremated and buried, followed by a set of white dress and a pair of dance shoes. The skirt was given by her friend, hoping to accompany her who loves dancing.

The photo placed in front of the Spirit is Lai Yingxing with a puppy. This is her favorite photo before she was alive. It was taken at the end of last year while working as a flat model for a cosmetic product. She smiles and smiles. At the funeral scene, in addition to the Lai family's relatives, the school teachers and a large number of classmates also came to send her the last ride, one by one, their eyes were red in tears.

The day after the cremation, on September 25, the four suspects were officially charged with kidnapping and murder. However, due to the minor involved, the subsequent legal process was so complicated that it was not until the Johor High Court in 2010 that the case was officially heard. The four accused are involved in criminal code 302 and face mandatory death penalty or life in prison, plus whipping.

But three of the accused in this case are minors, and Malaysian law states that under no circumstances can minors be sentenced to death, meaning that even if the three are convicted, they will only face a term of imprisonment.

Judge Maud, after reviewing the evidence in the case, said that due to lack of evidence, the accused Huang Jiawei was acquitted of the charges and did not need to defend himself, and he was acquitted on November 25, 2010. While the remaining three accused are considered to be well-founded, they will have to defend themselves.

During the prisoner's defense session, first the first accused, Yao Jinhong, denied the crime and claimed that a friend borrowed his car on the day of the incident, which was later stopped by the police.

He said that at around 2 pm on September 11, 2008, a friend named Wang Jian borrowed a car from the barbershop where he worked, saying that he was going to take his girlfriend to Johor Bahru shopping, and the other party did not send the car back until midnight. At 10am on September 12, before he was about to drive to work, he found a mobile phone under the driver's seat. This phone was just what Lai Yingxing used before he was alive. At that time, there was no card in the phone, he wanted to take it for himself

The next day, he made an appointment with three other defendants, told them he had found his phone and offered to sell it for cash. Liang Shunlong said he had a familiar mobile phone store that could be reselled, and the four people immediately sold their phones at the store, and then used the cash they received to buy four new mobile phone cards in the market.

At around 7pm on September 14, Wang Jian asked him to borrow a car again, and said that he was going to Kuala Lumpur, and gave him 500 yuan as a reward.

After Wang Jian returned the car on September 15, police arrested him. In addition to the mysterious figure of "Wang Jian", Jiang Jinhong also said that he did not direct the police to the abandoned body, but was taken to the place where he was forcibly taken.

In addition, he also alleged that while in detention, he was beaten with electric shock by the police and forced his head into a bucket of water to extract a confession before he was finally beaten into a confession.

However, the chief prosecutor denied the existence of the mysterious figure Wang Jian, because when questioned by the police, Jiang Jinhong never mentioned such a person. When asked about his origin, where he came from, where he lived, parents, brothers and other information, Jiang Jinhong replied with "don't know".

The other two accused also said they were not involved in the kidnapping and murder of Lai Yingxing, but they all denied having met or known Wang Jian, a mysterious friend.

Liang Shunlong confessed that he did not know that the phone belongs to Lai Yingxing, but he once sold mobile phones in that store, so he thought the store could get rid of it at a high price. Huang Shunxing also claimed that he was beaten by police during detention.

All three tried to get themselves dry, but the evidence was silent and justice was sound. Police found two Lai Yingxing hairs, a bag for ransom, and Lai Yingxing's mobile phone and other evidence in the car, all pointed out that the three were not involved in the case. In the car, the police also found 2 incense branches, 9 sausages and 3 Buddha cards. This is enough to show the extreme panic in their hearts after making money and killing.

V. Major changes

On February 21, 2011, Judge Maud convicted three of kidnapping and murder, emphasizing the lack of compassion and remorse for the three accused in this case, despite their young age, to commit such a felony.

And killing Lai Yingxing with cruelty in order to destroy evidence, can be said to have no conscience, totally without considering the painful feelings of the deceased and his family, the maximum penalty allowed by law should be imposed on the three.

Liang Shunlong and Huang Shun Hing were exempt from death penalty due to age and sentenced to life imprisonment and handed over to the Sultan of Johor. The first accused, Yao Jinhong, was sentenced to death, and because of the death penalty, the case automatically became an appeal case. The three accused showed calm after hearing the sentence, especially Yao Jinhong's face was expressionless.

Lai's mother has not been absent from any trial since Lai's murder, and she hopes her daughter will get a fair verdict, which she thinks is the last thing she can do for her daughter.

The Lai family is satisfied with this judgement, at least the killer got the punishment he deserved. Yang then appealed twice, in May 2013 and October 2015, to escape the death penalty, but both were rejected by federal court. I thought this case was settled in the dust, just waiting for the execution, and comforting Lai Yingxing's spirit in heaven, but did not expect that many years later, it ushered in a huge change.

Yingxing was still a child, swimming Genting in the middle of her mother's arms, and from the right to the right was a young child's

In April 2023, the Malaysian government passed the decree abolishing the mandatory death penalty and reviewing life sentences, allowing about a thousand death row and life prison inmates to apply for a review of their sentences.

On May 16, 2024, the three divisions of the Federal Court, composed of Federal Court justices, judges and Datuk, after hearing the prosecution and the lawyer of Nguyen Jinhong, after 15 minutes of discussion, approved the application of Yao Jinhong, commuting the death sentence to 40 years' imprisonment and 17 times of lashes, starting from the time of his arrest on September 15, 2008.

The Lai family was very angry and dissatisfied after learning that Yao Jinhong had escaped the death penalty. They think the culprit is a serious crime and two felonies, and anyone with a conscience will feel he deserves the death penalty.

And they don't understand. After being sentenced to death, why did not carry out the execution. Before the lawyer told them that even if the other party appealed, they would wait at most 8 or 9 years. I didn't expect that now it not only took 16 years to say, but actually commuted to

Social public opinion is huge on the revision of this case. The lawyer for Nguyen Jinhong pointed out that the forensics confirmed that Lai Yingxing died before being burned, the cause of death was strangulation, and that the burning of the body was to destroy evidence, not to torture the victims. There is no evidence that the dead were invaded and tortured during their lifetime, burning each other and burning bodies are two completely different situations.

At the time of the incident, Yao Jinhong was young and immature and committed a crime on impulse. And this case is not rare or the worst case. Unless the criminals have no possibility of rehabilitation, they should not be sentenced to death. After the incident, Yao Jinhong also regretted the crime and apologized to the victims' families.

But the Lai family did not approve of this statement, saying that they had met the families of the three accused in court before, but never received an apology from the other side, instead they glanced at them as if they had a deep hatred and no remorse at all. If this is the case, Zeng Jinhong will have more than 20 years to get out of jail, and Lai's family fear the possibility of retaliation.

So they then actively sought legal avenues to appeal the revised sentence, trying to push for the reinstatement of the death penalty. For the family, the daughter was so cruelly taken away from her life, and such a revision is the second injury to the family.