SINGAPORE (ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES) – A former property agent who murdered his pregnant wife and their four-year-old daughter in 2017, then set their corpses on fire, was executed on April 16.
Teo Ghim Heng, 49, strangled his wife Choong Pei Shan, 39, a housewife who was six months pregnant, and daughter Zi Ning in their Woodlands flat on Jan 20, 2017.
The Singapore Prison Service told ST that Teo’s sentence was carried out at Changi Prison Complex.
In a news release on April 16, the police said: “He was accorded full due process under the law, and was represented by legal counsel both at the trial and at the appeal. His petitions to the President for clemency were unsuccessful.”
The police added that capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious crimes, including murder.
Teo, who was sentenced to hang by the High Court in November 2020, had his appeal dismissed by the Court of Appeal in February 2022.
He had argued he was suffering from depression, which diminished his responsibility, and hence should be convicted of culpable homicide instead.
However, the apex court upheld the lower court’s findings that Teo was not eligible for a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and that he could not avail himself of the defence.
Teo and Madam Choong married in 2009. He was a successful property agent but, in 2015, his income dropped due to a downturn in the market.
In late 2016, he took on another job as a sales coordinator at a renovation company. But the family’s expenses remained unchanged as Teo had a gambling habit.
By the end of 2016, he was saddled with a debt of about USD120,000 and had listed their flat for sale.
On Jan 18, 2017, the couple argued over the family’s finances. During the quarrel, he brought up an extramarital affair Madam Choong had in 2014.
On the morning of Jan 20, 2017, Teo decided not to send Zi Ning to school as her fees were overdue.
When Madam Choong found out, she berated Teo for being useless.
He strangled her with a bath towel before using his bare hands to make sure she was dead. He then strangled his daughter.
After the murders, he slept on the same bed as the bodies for one week, with the air-conditioner turned on to delay the decomposition process.
He then ignited the bodies, stating that he had also attempted to end his own life in the blaze but aborted his attempt as it was too hot.
The deaths were discovered on Jan 28, the first day of Chinese New Year, after Madam Choong’s family called the police.
The High Court convicted Teo of two counts of murder. A third charge of killing his unborn son was withdrawn by the prosecution.
The judge rejected the defence’s arguments that Teo was provoked and lost control following his wife berating him.
In dismissing his appeal, the Court of Appeal noted that Teo covered up his tracks after the murders, by buying air fresheners to mask the smell of burning and decomposition.
He lied that he and Madam Choong had earlier made a suicide pact and even fabricated suicide notes, lying to relatives about the family’s absence from Chinese New Year festivities.
