2007 Marsiling flat murder

On 20 October 2007, inside a rental flat in Marsiling, Singapore, 45-year-old bus driver Ong Pang Siew (王邦守 Wáng Bāngshŏu) strangled his 15-year-old China-born stepdaughter Pan Hui (潘辉 Pān Huī) after an argument. Ong, who was formerly married to Pan's biological mother (with whom he had a son) before their divorce a few months before, was charged with murder. It was revealed in court that after the divorce, Ong and Pan's mother had been arguing regarding Ong's need to visit their son, and on the date of the killing, Ong went there to see his son and his conversation with Pan eventually escalated into an argument that led to the strangulation.

Ong was diagnosed by the defence's psychiatrist to be suffering from major depressive disorder, which impaired his mental responsibility at the time of the murder, and his prior consumption of alcohol likely also contributed to the impairment of Ong's mental state at the material time. However, the trial court rejected the defence's psychiatric evidence and ruled in favour of the prosecution's psychiatric opinion, and Ong was hence sentenced to death for murder. However, upon Ong's appeal, his conviction of murder was reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and Ong's death sentence was commuted to ten years' imprisonment.