Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Cops seek mum’s help in investigation



PENANG: Police have remanded the mother of Shearwey Ooi Ying Ying to help in the investigation into the death of the three-year-old girl whose charred remains were scattered in three different locations.

Jess Teh, 28, and her boyfriend, Ong Chee Leong, 29, were produced before the Balik Pulau magistrate’s court yesterday morning

From early morning, a large crowd had gathered outside the courthouse to catch a glimpse of those who had been arrested in connection with the case.

Last Friday, Teh, a sales executive, lodged a police report saying that Ying Ying had gone missing after she left the child outside her car when she went to pay for her parking ticket near the Bayan Baru market hawker centre.

The next day, Teh gave a press conference to say how Ying Ying went missing and asked for help from the public to find her.

Teh and Ong were arrested on Sunday at about 1pm when they turned up at the Bayan Lepas police station to give a statement.

Ong then led police to recover a piece of bone at a cemetery in Paya Terubong and a pair of pyjamas in his car that was parked at the couple's apartment at Bandar Baru Air Itam.

Sources said police were investigating Teh’s claim that Ying Ying had drowned in a plastic bathtub, which has since been recovered from the couple’s apartment.

The sources added that only Ong was at the apartment when Ying Ying died on Thursday.

Teh had found Ying Ying dead when she returned home from work.

They said both waited for nightfall before carrying the little girl’s body out of the premises.

They added that police were now looking for an oil drum in which Ying Ying’s body was believed to have been placed before it was doused with petrol and burned

Yesterday, Ong led police to three rivers in Air Itam and Paya Terubong where Ying Ying’s remains were said to have been dumped.

A police team searched the three places.

At a press conference, Balik Pulau OCPD Supt Mohd Hatta Mohd Zain said the couple had been remanded until July 18 and that police had classified the case as murder.

“We consider the case solved with their arrest. Our checks showed that Ong was arrested a few years ago in connection with a fight,” he said.

It is understood that Teh met Ong, a former karaoke lounge manager who is currently jobless, about a year ago and they moved in together about three months ago.

Teh is in the midst of getting a divorce from her businessman husband Ooi Eng Chew.

Ong is separated from his wife and has two children

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