Several years ago, Mrs Dorcas Lee was at a columbarium to pay respects to her mother, whose ashes were kept there. But it was a name on another niche that caused her to break into tears.

"My heart broke, and a deep anguish swept through me as a mother," Mrs Lee said. The niche belonged to Ms Annie Leong, the woman Mrs Lee's son had killed on May 14, 2001, a day after Mother's Day. He was then 14 years old.