NAIVE and unsuspecting at just 15, Ng Yuk Tim’s life ended abruptly on Oct 21, 2013 all because of the pursuit of her favourite hobby.
She was a cosplay enthusiast, the hobby of dressing up as TV characters, especially from Japanese anime.
On that fateful day, Ng left home before noon after telling her family that she was heading out to a male friend’s house in Taman Cempaka, Kelana Jaya to plan a cosplay event with him.
It was the last time her family saw her.
When Ng did not return home and was uncontactable, her family contacted her male friend Poon Wai Hong, then aged 23, and enquired about her whereabouts.
Poon admitted that he had met up with her at his house but claimed he later dropped her off at a nearby LRT station.
Police were alerted to Ng’s disappearance and a search for her was mounted.
Poon, who ran his father’s scaffolding business, joined in the search and even posted messages on social media “appealing” to her to return home and urging those who knew her whereabouts to come forward.
Malaysian Community Policing Association president Kuan Chee Heng, who was also helping out in the search, was not convinced of Poon’s account of events prior to Ng’s disappearance.
The following day, Kuan, an ex-cop turned civilian crime-buster, took the man aside and questioned him again, persuading him to come clean on the case.
Contacted by theSun yesterday, Kuan recalled the incident with sadness.
“I was shocked to my spine when he told me the girl was dead and he had put her body in a luggage bag before dumping it at a spot in Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam,” Kuan said.
“I alerted the police and he led us to her body.”
Poon had claimed that while at his house, Ng had agreed to have sex with him but before they could indulge, he was interrupted by a call from a friend.
When he tried to reignite the flame, Ng had changed her mind and refused to entertain his sexual advances.
This led to a heated argument before the girl was killed.
According to a post-mortem report, the teenage girl had suffered three blows to her head from an exercise dumbbell.
Days after being held under a remand order for investigation, Poon was charged with the murder of Ng.
The murder case also shook the cosplay fraternity whose members were in disbelief that Poon was capable of such an act.
In April 2018, Poon was sentenced to death by the Shah Alam High Court.
He escaped the gallows when the Court of Appeal amended the murder charge to culpable homicide in September last year.
Poon was sentenced to serve 22 years in jail from the date of his arrest in October 2013.
It is learnt that the prosecution had filed an appeal against the decision in the Federal Court.
