In a high-profile 14-day trial, Malaysian-born Took Leng How (卓良豪; Zhuó Liángháo), a vegetable packer at the wholesale centre, was found guilty of murdering her and hanged after an appeal and a request for presidential clemency failed.

In 1996, Qinrong left China to seek his fortune in Singapore and worked illegally as a vegetable packer at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre.

[3] In May 2003, Shuying immigrated to Singapore as a peidu mama accompanying Huang Na, who was enrolled in Jin Tai Primary School.

[4] People from the wholesale centre and Jin Tai Primary School described Huang Na as an intelligent, independent, sociable and active child.

[8] At the wholesale centre, Took, who married an Indonesian Chinese woman and had a son, often played with Huang Na, bought her food and gave her rides on his motorcycle.

The police, including a Criminal Investigation Department team, conducted an intensive search for the girl, and officers carried photographs of her while on their daily rounds.

[5][9] Volunteers formed search parties and Crime Library Singapore, a voluntary group dedicated to finding missing persons, distributed over 70,000 leaflets appealing for information.

[11] Two Singaporeans offered rewards of S$10,000 and S$5,000 for finding Huang Na,[12] while the manager of an online design company set up a website to raise awareness and gather tips.

Thousands attended Huang Na's wake and funeral; some gave bai jin and gifts, such as sweets, flowers and her favourite Hello Kitty merchandise.

The prosecution relied on 76 witnesses, a video in which Took re-enacted the murder, forensic evidence and an autopsy that found several bruises on Huang Na's head.

Based on the evidence, the prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Lawrence Ang, alleged that Took lured Huang Na to the storeroom, then stripped and sexually assaulted her.

[15][17][18] However, there was no conclusive proof that Huang Na had been sexually assaulted due to her body’s high state of decomposition and the absence of semen in her vaginal area.

In his dissenting judgement, Justice Kan felt that the appropriate conviction for Took should be voluntarily causing hurt and the maximum penalty Took should receive would be a year's imprisonment.

[19] Later, Took's family and relatives decided to submit a clemency plea to the President of Singapore, S. R. Nathan, which would allow Took's sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment if accepted.

[2] The couple decided to focus on raising their remaining child, with Zheng planning to pursue business opportunities in Guangzhou or Shenzhen.

Sujesh, who was Subhas's first and only child, told the reporters that when he was a teen, he witnessed his father being greatly affected by the appeal verdict of Took's case and took it badly.