Singapore  - A Singapore court on Thursday sentenced a private bus driver to death by hanging for the murder of his China-born teenage stepdaughter, media reports said.

Ong Pang Siew, 46, was found guilty of strangling Ong Pan Hui, 15, on October 20, 2007, at her flat, the online edition of the Straits Times newspaper reported.

The murder came a few weeks after the girl's mother was granted a divorce from Ong with her getting custody of the girl and the son the couple bore together.

The prosecution argued Ong planned the murder as revenge on his former wife for the divorce and for not letting him have access to their son.

Ong based his defence on diminished responsibility, citing severe depression at the time of the killing and heavy drinking before the murder. (dpa)