Girl, 19, chained in Clementi flat toilet, fatally starved & beaten: Man, 66, gets 14 years & 11 months' jail

A 66-year-old man, who was among three people who fatally abused a 19-year-old woman to death in a Clementi flat, was sentenced to 14 years and 11 months’ jail on May 25.

Lim Peng Tiong had previously pleaded guilty to one count of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in February 2025 for the death of Huang Baoying.

The other two people involved are Huang's 34-year-old brother Huang Bocan and his girlfriend 46-year-old Chee Mei Wan.

The deceased had lost about 43 per cent of her body weight before she died from severe malnutrition and blunt force trauma.

She was found to have weighed only 27.6kg at the time of her death, having lost about 20kg, or 43 per cent, of her body weight over 11 months.

The High Court judge imposed an initial sentence of 14 years and five months in prison, with an additional six months in lieu of caning, as Lim is above 50 years old and cannot be caned, reported CNA.

Sentenced to jail

The prosecution had sought 20 years in jail for Lim, while the defence had asked for 11 years in jail instead.

The defence had contended that Lim was a follower who had been “brainwashed” by his accomplices, The Straits Times reported.

Lim had met the victim and his two co-accused in 2018 through Chee's company, Colourful Nutrifit, which sold nutritional products.

While the prosecution submitted that the case fell within the category of the worst type of culpable homicide, the judge disagreed, noting that Lim’s involvement was the least of the three.

He also noted that Lim himself was subject to abuse and coercion by the other two.

While the judge agreed that the facts of the case were "very egregious", he said he did not believe Lim’s conduct warranted the sentence sought by the prosecution.

Found dead in Clementi unit in 2021

In May 2021, 19-year-old Baoying was found motionless in a residential unit in Clementi West Street 1 by the police.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her brother, Bocan, and Chee were initially charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt, but had their charges amended to murder.

Joined Chee's company

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Baoying and the three individuals met in 2018 through Chee's company, Colourful Nutrifit.

Chee described the company as a club.

Clients received discounts for a subscription, and members of the club also sold products to their own clients.

The Huangs and Lim joined Chee's club as "trainee coaches", with Chee as the "coach".

The victim, then aged between 16 and 17, joined as she wanted to lose weight, improve herself and earn money.

The group grew close after spending time together while working on the club's activities, including travelling to Malaysia for roadshows to promote Herbalife products.

In September 2018, Bocan and Chee developed a romantic relationship, despite Chee being married.

The group started meeting at the Huang siblings' home, where Bocan would teach Chee how to use Zoom and Facebook to promote the products.

Moved in to Lim's home in 2020

The Huangs eventually had a rift with their father, who felt that the siblings were spending too much on the health products.

They spent about S$1,000 to S$2,000 per month.

In July 2020, the Huang siblings moved into Lim's home. Chee joined them after a fight with her own husband.

In October 2020, Chee came up with a fine system owing to Lim's bad habits like dragging his feet when walking.

Chee felt that Lim's habits would affect his sales performance, which would, in turn, affect her own commission.

Lim agreed as he felt the system would help him, and the siblings eventually became subject to the system as well.

In November 2020, Chee and the elder Huang introduced physical punishments, including exercise and beatings, as they found the fines to be "ineffective".

Chee was the only one exempt as she was the "coach".

The younger Huang bore the brunt of the punishments, as Chee felt that she "lacked discipline and motivation" and had poor sales.

A WhatsApp group was created in February 2021 to monitor and report Baoying's "mistakes".

'Full-blown torture'

The punishments meted out against Baoying escalated over time, with the prosecution calling them "full-blown torture and abuse".

The 19-year-old was beaten whenever she was deemed to have misbehaved.

She was forced out of the home between January and February 2021.

Baoying's brother cut her hair at one point before forcing her out of the home as a form of humiliation.

In January 2021, he started controlling her finances, giving her only S$20 to S$30 per week for one meal a day, supposedly to teach her to be grateful to people and opportunities.

According to court documents, this meal was supposed to be "mixed vegetable rice".

However, Lim was not involved in the restriction of Baoying's finances.

Food deprivation became a form of punishment between February and May 2021, with things taking a turn for the worse in May 2021 when she was completely deprived of food for days.

From February 2021 to May 2021, Baoying was confined in the toilet by her brother and Chee, having to sleep and eat there.

Confined to the toilet

For almost the whole of March 2021, Baoying was confined to the toilet.

Baoying was later chained, using chains and a padlock bought by Lim on Chee's instruction, to a railing in the toilet after she was found to have left the toilet to look for food.

She was eventually chained around her ankle instead of her wrists after her brother found that she could escape the restraints.

In February 2021, Baoying was beaten up to 240 times at one go on the back of her calves and thighs with a wooden stick for "laziness".

One of the wounds on her right calf never healed.

Chee also demonstrated to the two men how to beat Baoying "properly" by demonstrating on them the right amount of force to use.

On one occasion, she was beaten for accepting a blanket and straw mat from a stranger after being kicked out of the house.

In April 2021, Baoying was slapped around 80 times by her brother and around 50 times by Lim for falling asleep during a church service.

Events leading to death

On May 4, 2021, a day before she died, Baoying failed to perform squats as instructed and was punished for lying about it.

Chee, followed by Baoying's brother, beat her in the living room with a wooden stick.

Baoying remained silent.

Seeing this as defiance, Chee told Baoying that crying would be seen as remorse and she would be given food.

Baoying continued with her silence, and curled into a foetal position.

Chee then told Lim to splash cold water on her before Bocan held the girl's head under water for a few seconds.

At that point, Baoying could no longer sit up and kept sliding to the floor.

Lim and Bocan then took turns standing on Baoying's thighs to try to make her cry.

Chee then poured salt on Baoying's wounds to elicit a reaction.

At 11pm, Baoying was brought into the toilet and, with her hands tied above her head, was left under a running tap.

She was untied 15 minutes later. Her brother then changed her clothes and left her on a mattress.

Trio colluded to lie about what happened

Bocan later found her sister to be unresponsive sometime past midnight on May 5, 2021.

Chee objected to sending her to the hospital, as she did not want to involve the authorities.

Baoying was left alone until about 5am.

The trio then discussed again whether to send her to the hospital, and agreed to lie about the incident.

At 6:02am, Bocan called 995 and was told to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Baoying.

Baoying was pronounced dead at the scene minutes after paramedics arrived.

The paramedics later reported the case to the police.