Abduction of Sindee Neo

The trial of Constance Chee Cheong Hin began at the High Court on 1 August 2005,[25] less than a year after Sindee Neo was murdered. Chee was represented by veteran criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan and his two associates Anand Nalachandran and Sunil Sudheesan, while the prosecution was led by Wong Kok Weng. The trial was presided by Justice V. K. Rajah of the High Court.

Dr Stephen Phang, a government psychiatrist, found that Chee was suffering from schizophrenia, and it also substantially impaired her mental responsibility at the time she killed Sindee Neo.[26] As a result, a month before her trial proceeded, the prosecution lowered Chee's murder charge to one of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (equivalent to manslaughter in Singapore's legal terms). The reduction of her murder charge meant that Chee would not be sentenced to death if found guilty, but she would possibly receive a sentence of either life imprisonment or up to ten years in prison.[27][28] Not only that, the prosecution also brought up a second charge of wrongful abduction of a child from her legal guardianship, which carries the maximum penalty of ten years' imprisonment under Section 363 of the Penal Code.[29][30]

During the trial, Dr Michael Tay Ming Kiong of the Health Sciences Authority testified for the prosecution that it was more possible to conclude that Chee had thrown the girl down, although it cannot be determined from which floor Neo was thrown and the exact height from where she fell. Dr Tay demonstrated in court his experiments of determining the manner of Neo's fall. In description, three bags of pork weighing 25 kg and packed with jointed sections to represent the head and limbs were used to simulate the child's weight and body. With the assistance of a female police officer whose weight and height was similar to Chee, Dr Tay tested the fall of the bags by both tipping over and throwing from the fourth, sixth and tenth storeys. In conclusion, Dr Tay determined that based on the impact of the fall, it was more likely that the girl was not tipped over but thrown off and it thus led to her fall to death.[31] On the other hand, the defence's medical expert Dr Prakash Thamburaja, an associate professor from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), contended that Neo died from a fall rather than it being the result of Chee's actions. Other than the dispute on whether Neo died from a fall or being thrown down,[32] Dr Paul Chui, the forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Neo, testified that the head injuries and jaw fracture were sufficient to cause her death.[2]

When she elected to give her defence on 23 August 2005,[33] Chee mounted a defence that she did not throw the girl down but it was due to Neo falling off by accident. She claimed that she entered Neo's house to recover her loan from the girl's father but when she saw Neo's father sitting on his bed with a cleaver, which he prepared to use to attack her, Chee grabbed the sleeping Sindee in order to use the girl as a human shield.[34] Chee claimed that she ran with Sindee up several flights of stairs, and when she got near to the corridor railing of one of the upper storeys, the crying Neo accidentally struggled in Chee's arms and fell over the railing. She also maintained she never wanted to harm the girl.[35][36][37]

According to Anandan, during her time on the stand, Chee was not a good witness and was "nervous and temperamental" on the stand, and yet she was intelligent and able to maintain herself in the face of stern cross-examination by the trial prosecutor Wong Kok Weng, whom Anandan described as a "thorough gentleman" during his questioning of Chee at trial.[3] The trial judge also noted that Chee was inconsistent in her evidence with regards to her conduct and decision to abduct Neo, as well as her disputed account on how did Neo fell to her death. Justice Rajah also wrote that it was unfortunate that per the psychiatric evidence, Chee herself refused to acknowledge that she was schizophrenic and required medical attention despite the psychiatric opinion.[2]

On 24 January 2006, Justice Rajah accepted the prosecution's medical evidence and found Constance Chee guilty of both charges, namely one count of culpable homicide and one count of kidnapping, citing that it was more clear that Chee had intentionally caused Neo to fall to her death.[38][39][2] However, Justice Rajah postponed the sentencing trial to a later date in order to hear further psychiatric opinion to determine the appropriate sentence for Chee based on her condition and also to hear whether Chee had strong familial support to assist in her treatment for schizophrenia.[40] Dr Stephen Phang, who represented the prosecution, submitted a new medical report, which contained his opinion that based on Chee's condition, she should be isolated from society as long as possible for the protection of the public and herself. Taking reference to Dr Phang's report, the prosecutors also argued that Chee should be sentenced to life in prison.[3][41]

Chee's lawyer Subhas Anandan, who wrote about Chee's case in his autobiography, wrote that he was concerned that the psychiatric report by Dr Phang would influence Justice Rajah into ordering his client to serve a life sentence for killing Neo, because according to Anandan, Dr Phang was a "very officious" psychiatrist who was convinced that Chee should receive a life term or any longer sentence in view of her purported refusal to undergo treatment and her disregarding the doctors' contention that she was ill; Dr Phang also cited that Chee's condition was so severe that she may experience a "downward slide" of relapses in spite of treatment.[3]

On 7 April 2006, three months after Chee's conviction, Justice Rajah sentenced 37-year-old Constance Chee Cheong Hin to 13 years' imprisonment. Justice Rajah explained that he did not agree to impose the maximum punishment of life imprisonment due to the prison psychiatrist's testimony that if Chee consistently receive medical treatment, her condition would improve and he also took into consideration of Chee's strong familial support.[42][43]

Prior to Chee's sentencing, Anandan submitted to the court a sworn affidavit from Chee's three sisters, who all promised they would take care of her upon her release and constantly monitor her condition. One of Chee's sisters also made arrangements for Chee to live together with her permanently once Chee completed her sentence. Having taken into consideration these above factors, Justice Rajah decided to err on the side of leniency and chose to not conform to the prosecution's submission and Dr Phang's opinion. Instead, he meted out the alternative highest term of ten years' imprisonment for the culpable homicide charge and a consecutive three-year sentence with respect to the abduction charge. The aggregate sentence of 13 years was backdated to the date of Chee's remand on 8 October 2004.[44] Anandan stated that from this instance, Justice Rajah received the respect of the legal community being a "courageous judge who knew the meaning of compassion" despite his short tenure on the Bench.[3]

Reportedly, Neo's mother did not bear any grudge against anyone and only sought justice for her child.[45][46] Neo's father was also remorseful of his infidelity and the death of his daughter, which resulted from him owing money to Chee and his relationship with her.[47]

Chee initially appealed her conviction before she decided to withdraw her appeal. Chee subsequently served her sentence at Changi Women's Prison and she is currently released since 2017.[48]