A 23-year-old Malaysian man was sentenced to death by hanging today after being found guilty of murdering an eight-year-old mainland Chinese girl in Singapore.

Judge Lai Kew Chai in his verdict said the prosecution had proven its case that Took Leng How, a vegetable packer, murdered Huang Na, daughter of a Chinese woman co-worker, in October last year.

"I therefore find you guilty of the offence as charged," Lai said in court.

Took's lawyer, Subhas Anandan, told reporters that his client was planning an appeal against the death sentence, mandatory for murder in Singapore.

"We must exhaust every avenue," Anandan said.

Took, who is married with a two-year-old son, has 14 days to appeal.

Massive search

Accounts of the case portrayed Took as a friend of the victim and her mother, but suspicion fell on him after he fled Singapore during the investigation before finally giving himself up in Malaysia.

The disappearance of the girl became a sensation in Singapore, where volunteers joined a massive search which ended tragically when Huang Na's naked and decomposing body was found stuffed in a box abandoned in a hill park.