Murder of Hans Herzog

On 12 November 2003, 59-year-old Hans Herzog, a German-born Australian businessman who had moved to Malaysia in 1993, was found dead at his home in Taman Subang Mewah, USJ, Subang Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur. He had suffered 23 slash wounds, presumed inflicted with a parang, and died from injuries to his neck and head. Herzog had married Low Yoke Yoke in 2000 and became stepfather to her two daughters. On the night of the killing, his wife heard noises, saw a suspicious person in her younger daughter's bedroom, and alerted Herzog, who went to investigate before being fatally attacked. A bloodstained parang was recovered at the scene.

Seventeen hours after the murder, a 17-year-old secondary school student surrendered to police and confessed that he and an 18-year-old friend had attacked Herzog with parangs after receiving money allegedly stolen from Herzog by his two stepdaughters. This led to the arrest of the stepdaughters, and the second teenage boy was arrested on 16 November 2003. On 22 November 2003, all four teenagers — the two stepdaughters, Low Kian Boon (18), and Tan Pei Yan (17) — were charged with Herzog's murder.

At trial before the Shah Alam High Court, presided over by Justice Datuk K. N. Segara, the prosecution argued the stepdaughters had recruited the boys to kill Herzog over alleged domestic abuse and control, with Low acting as ringleader. On 6 February 2006, the trial judge acquitted the stepdaughters at the close of the prosecution's case, finding insufficient evidence to link them to the killing. Low and Tan were ordered to enter a defence; both claimed a third person, referred to as "Ivan," had orchestrated the attack, but the judge rejected this account. On 8 April 2006, the judge convicted both of manslaughter rather than murder, citing doubt over intent, and on 25 April 2006 sentenced each to ten years' imprisonment.

The prosecution appealed. On 7 April 2009, the Court of Appeal found that the killing was premeditated murder and set aside the manslaughter convictions. Because Tan was 17 at the time of the offence, he was sentenced to indefinite detention under the Child Act 2001; Low, who was 18, was sentenced to death. The Federal Court dismissed further appeals on 17 March 2010.

Tan was released in September 2020 after receiving a royal pardon from the Sultan of Selangor, having served 11 years. Low remained on death row for approximately 15 years. Following Malaysia's 2023 abolition of the mandatory death penalty, Low's case was reconsidered, and on 28 March 2024 the Federal Court commuted his death sentence to 35 years' imprisonment plus 12 strokes of the cane, backdated to his 2003 arrest.