SHAH ALAM: An unidentified Chinese woman telephoned a businessman and demanded a RM500,000 ransom if he wanted his son, Ho Ping, back, the High Court heard yesterday.

Businessman Ho San Cheh, 59, said the woman also told him not to take his son-in-law, Kee Lian Kok, to a police station.

San Cheh was the eighth prosecution witness in the trial of Chinese national Su Qiao Mei, 36, who is charged with kidnapping Ho Ping on May 18, 2006, and demanding a ransom from his father.

Su, who was Kee's mistress, is also charged with murdering the boy in Perak between 2am and 3am the next day.

She was initially charged with committing the offences with Kee but the prosecution dropped the charges against him after he committed suicide in his cell in Sungai Buloh.
Kee was married to Ho Ping's sister, Ho Woon Chen.

Testifying calmly, San Cheh said he received the ransom call on his mobile phone at 11am on May 19, 2006, when he was at the Subang Jaya police station with Kee to lodge a missing person's report.

"The woman repeated the demand twice and said not to take Ah Kok (Kee) to the police station."

San Cheh, who has fruit and vegetable farms in Johor Baru, Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands and Nilai, said he believed the caller was a Chinese national because she spoke Mandarin fast.

"I deal a lot with the Chinese, both locals and Chinese nationals. Locals speak Mandarin at a slower pace."

Asked by deputy public prosecutor Wan Shahruddin Wan Ladin whether he had seen Kee making calls and sending SMSes, San Cheh said: "Kee brought along his mobile phone (to the police station)."

He said he observed that Kee went to the toilet several times while at the police station.

San Cheh also told the court he last saw Ho Ping alive about 5am on May 18 when he and his wife left for their farm in Johor.

Hearing before judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad continues.