When night falls....

She suffocated him, then tried to take her own life but boyfriend saved her

By K.C. VIJAYAN
July 11, 2009
ON THE night she wanted to kill herself and her son, Kang Kah Li, a 38-year-old divorcee, fed him sedatives and he kissed her good night. After Tan Eu-Jin, 12, went to bed, she bound his wrists and also his ankles together with red ribbons.

She later drove the ends of a towel up his nostrils, pressed his nose shut and stuffed part of the same towel into his mouth.

Although his eyes were closed, he struggled but soon fell still.

Kang then swallowed 50 tablets meant for treating high blood pressure, cut her right wrist and decided to call her boyfriend.

It was that call made well past 1am on May 16 last year that set in motion a chain of events that saved her life. But her son's was already lost.

On Friday, she was found to have been mentally unstable at the time of the murder and jailed seven years. Kang had pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the High Court.

She was in tears as Justice Chan Seng Onn said he passed the sentence 'with a heavy heart' and described the case as 'unfortunate and tragic'.

He said the greater pain for Kang lay not in the jail term, but in the fact that her only child died by her hand. He noted that all she was left with now were 'fond memories' of the boy.

She committed the offence in the Toa Payoh Lorong 2 flat she shared with her parents and son. It was the night before she was due to show up in court to face forgery charges.