On 25 March 1988, at Bukit Timah, 49-year-old lorry driver Yeu Lam Ching (杨云清 Yáng Yúnqīng) was robbed and murdered by two men.
Professor Chao also stated that the estimated time of death was between midnight and 2am on the morning of 25 March, the same date when the lorry driver's corpse was found by police officers in a passing patrol car (who were searching for a suspect of a taxi robbery that happened nearby).
[2] The murdered lorry driver, identified as Yeu Lam Ching, was married with two daughters and two sons, and he resided at Jurong West.
[6] On 29 March 1988, four days after Lam was murdered, a 23-year-old suspect and labourer was arrested at Woodbridge Hospital (now known as the Institute of Mental Health).
Abdul Aziz recounted that due to his need for money to prepare for his upcoming wedding, he agreed to Mazlan's plan to rob a Chinese woman (who operated a nearby gambling den), but the original target never appeared at the venue of their first attempt.
Mazlan's younger sister (who was present in court) was reportedly devastated to hear that her brother was given the death sentence for killing Yeu.
A small portion of the trial verdict stated that both judges agreed with Mazlan's defence counsel that he should have been informed of the right to remain silent during his interrogation by police and thus rejected his statement as evidence.
National University of Singapore's law school lecturer and practicing lawyer Choo Han Teck, who was appointed as the amicus curae for the prosecution, also submitted to the court that the constitution did not have a doctrine to obligate police investigators to inform suspects that they could remain silent during interrogation, and there was no right for suspects to remain silent during their interrogation for criminal charges.
They found that there was overwhelming evidence against Mazlan and it was sufficient grounds to prove him guilty of the murder of Yeu Lam Ching and hence, they dismissed his appeal.
The three judges also opined that as long as a statement was made voluntarily, whether or not the suspect was told by police to tell the truth or remain silent, it was still admissible as evidence.
[24][25][26] On 21 January 1994, for the charge of murdering Yeu Lam Ching nearly six years prior, 29-year-old Mazlan bin Maidun was hanged in Changi Prison at dawn.
[30][31][32] More than a year after Mazlan was hanged, the murder of Yeu Lam Ching was re-enacted by Singaporean crime show Crimewatch in June 1995.