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SINGAPORE – A 45-year-old former real estate agent was sentenced to death on Thursday (November 12) for killing his pregnant wife and four-year-old daughter in 2017.
Teo Ghim Heng, who slept next to their bodies for a week and then set them on fire in his home before police knocked on his door, was convicted of two counts of intentional murder by Judge Kannan Ramesh in High Court.
The charges carry the mandatory death penalty.
Calling it a “tragic case,” the judge said lives were lost with “a shattered family,” according to media reports.
A government psychiatrist found that Teo had no mental disorder at the time of the crimes.
However, a defense psychiatrist said that Teo suffered from a major depressive disorder.
At trial, the court heard that Teo never fully forgave Choong for an affair he allegedly had a few years ago, and strongly suspected that the girl was not his biological daughter.
The prosecution dropped a third charge for killing her unborn child after Teo’s conviction.
Strangled wife, later daughter
Teo married his wife Choong Pei Shan, who was two years his junior, in 2009. It was the second marriage for both parties.
He had been a successful real estate agent with various companies for a decade. However, beginning in 2015, he experienced a decline in income due to the weakening housing market and marital problems.
Teo was an avid gamer who spent several hundred dollars a week on 4D while Choong was a homemaker. By the end of 2016, he had racked up more than $ 120,000 in debt and his condo was up for sale. Throughout this period, he kept his wife in the dark about her financial troubles.
To earn a steady source of income, Teo started working as a sales coordinator with Carpentry Design Works in November 2016. He also worked part time as a real estate agent.
On January 18, 2017, the couple had a fight over money after Teo told Choong that he had $ 70,000 in debt and was unable to pay his son’s kindergarten fees. His daughter would have turned five that year. Choong was also six months pregnant with a male fetus.
Two days later, on the morning of January 20, the couple had another argument about school fees. Teo then decided not to take his daughter to kindergarten because the school had already reminded him of the late fees.
Enraged by their fight, Teo took a towel from the bathroom, wrapped it around Choong’s neck, and pulled on both ends to strangle her for about 15 minutes. When he discovered that Choong was still breathing weakly, he proceeded to strangle her with his bare hands.
Throughout the murder, her daughter played with her toys and watched television in the master bedroom.
Then Tim walked up to his son and asked him to sit between his legs with his back towards him. He then wrapped the same towel around her neck and strangled her for about 10-15 minutes until her body relaxed. As she was still breathing, he strangled her with his bare hands.
Later he placed both bodies side by side on the bed and turned on the air conditioning.
Afterward, Teo slept next to the bodies for days, leaving the flat only to buy food and air fresheners. He also spent his time watching videos online, surfing the Internet, and sleeping.
Cops found charred bodies
On January 23, three of Teo’s classmates knocked on the door of his apartment, but he did not respond.
He also lied to his relatives and in-laws to explain his family’s absence from Chinese New Year reunion dinners and Chinese New Year visits.
On January 27, Chinese New Year’s Eve, Teo lied to his family and Choong’s, saying that Choong had a stomach ache and was going to visit the hospital. Pretending to be his wife, she used her mobile phone to send messages to her family members and her son’s teachers.
The next day, Choong’s brother Gordon visited the flat but got no response. Later, Teo called his mother and mother-in-law to tell them that he had not visited because Choong had kicked him out of the apartment. He also told them that he would visit them the next day.
But Gordon became suspicious and, along with his brother-in-law Chris Lam Kwek Fah, they returned to the Woodlands flat.
Once again, there was no reply. Then Gordon opened a small gap in a window and smelled a pungent odor that resembled a gas leak. Then he called the police.
Police officers who arrived at the scene noticed the same smell and asked the firefighters to break down the door. But just as they were about to do so, Tim opened the door.
When Gordon asked where Choong was, Teo told him in a calm and soft voice that she was dead. Then Tim tried to run into the elevator lobby, but Gordon grabbed him by the shirt.
At around the same time, firefighters told police officers that they had found a charred body on the bed in the master bedroom, which was covered in soot. When a police officer asked Teo what happened, he replied in Chinese: “It was my fault.”
He also admitted to setting fire to the corpses of his wife and son. Another police officer then confirmed that there was a second body on the bed and Teo was arrested for murder.
Teo intends to appeal against his convictions.
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Woodlands murders: Witnesses say defendant was a devoted family man, colleagues knew he was in debt
Murders in Woodlands: A man strangled his wife and son with a towel and slept next to the bodies for a week
