Murder of Mirza Abdul Halim

On 15 February 1989, Mirza Abdul Halim bin Mirza Abdul Majid, a 23-year-old Singaporean and police constable (PC), was shot in the head by a suspected burglar who stabbed him in the neck and snatched his service revolver before using it to shoot PC Abdul Halim. PC Abdul Halim, who was later promoted to Corporal during his hospitalization, went into a coma and died 33 hours later. The killer Ong Yeow Tian (Chinese: 王耀添; pinyin: Wáng Yàotiān; c. 1960 – 25 November 1994), who was an ex-convict and one of the two suspects involved in a prior housebreaking case, was subsequently engaged in a shoot-out with several other policemen but was finally arrested. Ong's accomplice was also caught and later sentenced to incarceration and caning for the burglary.

Ong, meanwhile, was charged with murdering Corporal Abdul Halim under the Penal Code and also faced charges of illegally discharging a firearm with intent to cause hurt under the Arms Offences Act, and the said charges under either which legislation warrant the death penalty if found guilty. Ong was eventually sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for a reduced charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Corporal Abdul Halim, but he returned to court for a second trial and sentenced to death for shooting at two other police officers (who both survived), and he was sent to the gallows on 25 November 1994.

The murder of Corporal Abdul Halim remained as one of the last few cases where officers of the Singapore Police Force were murdered while in line of duty. The last case took place on 30 November 1994 (five days after Ong's execution), when Senior Staff Sergeant Boo Tiang Huat (posthumously promoted to Station Inspector) was struck to death with an axe by 29-year-old Zainal Abidin Abdul Malik, who was convicted and later hanged for murder on 30 August 1996.