Man gets life imprisonment for murdering his younger sister, who was starved, beaten and chained in toilet by trio

Warning: This article contains distressing details of severe physical abuse.

SINGAPORE: A man was convicted of murder on Thursday (Nov 5) after being part of a group that abused his 19-year-old younger sister until she died.

Huang Bocan, who joined his girlfriend and another man in starving the victim and chaining her to a toilet, was first charged in 2021 with common intention of committing murder by causing bodily injury to Huang Baoying.

Huang, a 35-year-old Singaporean, was convicted on Thursday of committing murder by causing his younger sister's death.

The prolonged abuse resulted in the death of Baoying, who had lost 43 per cent of her body weight by the time she died from excessive blunt force trauma and severe malnourishment on May 5, 2021.

His co-accused are Lim Peng Tiong and Chee Mei Wan. Chee was the "coach" of a company she ran that marketed and sold Herbalife products, where Huang, Lim and Baoying were members and "trainee coaches". 

Lim was sentenced to 14 years and 11 months’ jail in May, while Chee's case is pending before the courts.

The trio and Baoying met in 2018 through Chee's company, Colourful Nutrifit, which she called a club. The victim, then aged between 16 and 17, wanted to lose weight, improve herself and earn money, the court heard.

Chee began a romantic relationship with Bocan in September 2018 even though she was married.

At the time, the club operated a storefront in Clementi, and the four of them would meet there to bond over their shared interest in Herbalife products, according to court documents.

After the club closed its storefront in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the group began meeting at the siblings' home.

When the siblings fell out with their father over their expenses on the company's products, they moved into Lim's home in July 2020, with Chee joining after a dispute with her husband.

In February 2021, the trio created a WhatsApp chat group to monitor and report Baoying's "mistakes".

The abuse intensified in the months before her death, even as she grew visibly weak and injured.

From February to May 2021, Chee and Bocan began confining Baoying in the toilet for prolonged periods. By March 2021, Baoying had become weak but was still forced to perform hand raises and squats.

The day before she died, Baoying had failed to do squats as instructed and was punished for lying about it. She was found unresponsive in the wee hours of May 5, 2021.

Bocan called 995 at about 6.02am and was told to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on his sister. Paramedics found him doing so when they arrived at about 6.12am.

Baoying was pronounced dead minutes later. The paramedics who noticed her injuries reported the case to the police.

According to an autopsy report, Baoying died from severe malnutrition with sepsis and excessive blunt force trauma. Apart from extensive bruising, she had a large, chronic, infected abscess on her right leg.

She weighed only 27.6kg at the time of her death, down from 48.8kg before she moved into Lim's home.

Her death was jointly caused by Bocan, Lim and Chee, according to the prosecution.

For committing murder, he could face the death penalty, or be imprisoned for life and caned.