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SINGAPORE – A team of attorneys was hired to represent a man charged with the murder of Ms. Felicia Teo Wei Ling in 2007, as heard by a district court on Thursday (December 24).
Withers KhattarWong’s lawyer Shashi Nathan told the court that he and his team, Ms. Tania Chin and Ms. Laura Yeo, will defend Ahmad Danial Mohamed Rafa’ee. The case was postponed until December 31.
Ahmad, now 35, is accused of murdering Ms. Teo, 19, in a Marine Terrace apartment in the early morning of June 30, 2007.
The Singaporean is said to have committed the crime with another man, Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana, now 32.
Ragil is still at large and the two men are believed to be friends of Ms Teo.
It was not mentioned in court whether the authorities have found Ms. Teo’s remains.
Criminals convicted of murder will face the death penalty.
Teo’s disappearance in 2007 made headlines when her family and friends refused to believe that the teenager had run away.
She had left her home in Bras Basah on June 29 of that year, and that was the last time her parents saw her. Later, closed-circuit television footage showed her entering an elevator in a Marine Terrace apartment block with two men.
She was never seen or heard from again.
His mother then filed a missing persons police report on July 3, 2007.
Agents began investigating and initially classified Ms. Teo’s disappearance as a missing persons case. This was because they did not find any facts linking the two men to their disappearance.
The men had previously told officers that Ms. Teo left the apartment of her own free will.
Their friends and family then conducted their own search, and more than 200 people became involved in the effort in 2007.
Meanwhile, the police continued to regularly review the case until this year.
The case was referred to the Department of Criminal Investigation in July this year and then officers managed to uncover new leads.
Ahmad was arrested on December 15 and charged with murder in a district court two days later.
In a Facebook post on Monday, a friend of Ms. Teo paid a moving tribute to the arts student who disappeared 13 years ago.
The woman, who only wanted to be known as Ms. S, shared snippets on her Facebook page of their friendship, including how they dealt with an ex-boyfriend of hers and skipped school together.
Ms. S also wrote that she and Ms. Teo had initially been upset, but became “sisters from different families.”
“People used to ask, ‘How did the two of you become best friends?’ Our response would always be, ‘At first we didn’t like each other.’ We’d say, ‘She’s too ah lian’ or ‘She’s too minah.’ But somehow we became friends and we got stuck, “he added.
“You were the brave one, always protecting me fiercely when you saw the need to.”
When contacted, Ms. S told The Straits Times that they met when they joined the co-curricular activity of canoeing at Monk’s Hill High School.
In her post, Ms. S also wrote about the promises the couple had made to each other, such as that Ms. Teo attended their wedding and was the godmother of their children.
But Ms. Teo disappeared on the eve of the wedding in 2007.
In her post, Ms. S recalled her last phone conversation with her best friend on the night of June 29.
“You said you were going out and that you would see me at home in the morning. I told you to take care of yourself and that I couldn’t wait to see you and Ana. How was I supposed to know our last conversation?” She wrote.
“I hope I can meet you soon so that you can rest and be at peace. I love you, forever and ever.”
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