Singapore man who hired teen to kill wife hanged

A Singapore man who hired a 15-year-old boy to kill his ex-wife was hanged Friday, after losing his appeal against the death sentence, a report said.

 The sensational trial of Anthony Ler, 35, captured headlines last December as it unfolded how he offered the boy 100,000 Singapore dollars (57,000 US) and trained him to kill using a kitchen knife.

 "Ler, who lost his appeal against the death sentence in March this year, was hanged in Changi Prison on Friday," Channel News Asia reported without quoting sources. Authorities do not announce executions in Singapore.

 Annie Leong, the mother of a 4-year-old daughter, died from stab wounds in May last year after being lured from her apartment by Ler on the pretext of signing some documents.

 The teenager, who could not be identified because of his aged, ambushed the 30-year-old Leong as she returned to her flat and stabbed her.

 Ler's argument that he was merely joking with the boy about killing Leong was rejected by High Court Judge Tay Yong Kwang.

 "Clearly, Anthony Ler hatched the idea of killing his wife, taught (the boy) to do it cleanly, kept egging him on and practically forced him to do it," Tay said when sentencing Ler to "the only available punishment" in Singapore.

 Death by hanging is mandatory for adults convicted of murder and a variety of drug and firearms offences in the Southeast Asian city state, with the executions always conducted at dawn on Fridays.

 In the past decade about 350 people have been put to death, most for drug offences.

 The boy who killed Leong, escaped the death sentence because of his age, but has been detained "at the President's pleasure". 

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian facing death penalty in Singapore

An Australian man is facing the death penalty after being arrested in Singapore on alleged heroin-trafficking charges.

 The unidentified 22-year-old Vietnamese-born Australian was stopped while trying to board a plane to Melbourne on Thursday evening.

 Singapore drug police say officers found one bag of heroin strapped to the man's back and a second inside a backpack, both totalling 752 grams.

 Under Singaporean law a conviction for possessing more than 15 grams of the drug attracts a penalty of death by hanging.

 Australian consular officials are seeking access to the suspect ahead of a court appearance this morning.

 Singapore stirred up a diplomatic storm in 1994 when it ignored appeals to make an exception to its tough rules and hanged a Dutch man for trafficking heroin.