Singapore – A Singapore court has sentenced 34-year-old Huang Bocan to life imprisonment for murder over the 2021 death of his 19-year-old sister, Huang Baoying. The report said the case involved prolonged abuse, starvation and repeated punishments carried out inside a Clementi flat.
Life sentence handed down
The court heard that Huang was part of a trio accused of inflicting harsh and violent punishments on Baoying, who was reportedly targeted over her performance in selling Herbalife products. Her death on May 5, 2021, followed months of abuse that escalated in severity.
AsiaOne reported that Baoying died after one final episode of punishment in which she was beaten, tied up, had salt applied to a wound and was drenched with water from a toilet tap. By the time she died, she weighed only 27.6kg. Her reported cause of death was severe malnutrition together with extensive blunt force trauma.1
Abuse allegedly worsened over months
The report said the abuse began after the siblings, Huang’s girlfriend Chee Mei Wan, and landlord Lim Peng Tiong were living together in the same flat in the second half of 2020.
Court documents cited by AsiaOne said a financial punishment system was introduced in October 2020, supposedly to correct bad habits. That system later turned physical, with punishments such as repeated hand raises and squats. Baoying was said to have been punished more often than the others.
From January 2021, her brother allegedly restricted her food, giving her only $20 to $30 a week for one meal a day. She was also reportedly prevented from leaving home on several occasions. In the months that followed, the abuse intensified further:
- She was confined in the toilet for long periods
- She was hit with a wooden stick
- She was chained up to stop her from leaving to look for food
- She was deprived of food for days and allowed only water
Other cases linked to the flat
AsiaOne said Huang is the second person in the trio to be sentenced. Earlier, landlord Lim Peng Tiong was jailed for 14 years and 11 months after pleading to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The case involving Chee Mei Wan, described in the report as Huang’s girlfriend and a “coach” in the Herbalife-selling business, is still pending.
The same report also said Huang had deleted photos, videos and audio recordings related to his sister’s injuries before the case came to light. A psychiatrist later assessed that he did not have a mental illness and was not of unsound mind at the time.