Murder of Boo Tiang Huat

On 30 November 1994, Senior Staff Sergeant (SSSgt) Boo Tiang Huat (巫镇发 Wū Zhènfā) of the Singapore Police Force and his partner were on their routine spot checks when they encountered a man behaving suspiciously, and approached him to check his identity. However, the 27-year-old ex-convict Zainal Abidin Abdul Malik retrieved an axe from his black bag and used it to strike Boo on the head, which killed the 47-year-old policeman instantly. Zainal Abidin was subsequently arrested and charged with murder. Boo was posthumously promoted as Station Inspector (SI) after his death, as a recognition of his contributions to the police force from 1973 to 1992, and from 1993 and 1994, when he ended his retirement and re-joined the force.

Zainal Abidin, who was previously jailed and caned for armed robbery and housebreaking, claimed in his trial that he had no intention to fatally assault the police officer and also raised another defence of diminished responsibility to rebut the murder charge, but he was found to have intentionally murdered Boo and was deemed mentally sound at the time of the offence, hence Zainal Abidin was found guilty of murdering Boo and sentenced to death, and his execution took place at Changi Prison on 30 August 1996. Boo Tiang Huat remains as the last police officer to be murdered while in the line of duty till this day. Provided by Wikipedia