Estranged husband stalked wife for a year before killing her

This article is more than 12 months old

Coroner's inquiry reveal couple were estranged and victim had filed a personal protection order against him

Sep 07, 2021 06:00 am

She had a personal protection order taken out against her estranged husband, but he continued to stalk her, turning up at her parents' home, her place of work and even at their son's tuition centre.

On Feb 10 this year, while out on bail for harassing his wife, the man stabbed the 42-year-old to death with a knife at a void deck in Tampines.

The food caterer, 45, then fled the scene and jumped from his eighth-floor unit in Punggol.

Details of the events leading up to their deaths were revealed during a coroner's inquiry yesterday.

The woman's two sisters and her daughter were in court but declined to speak to the media after the proceedings.

Investigation officer Benjamin Heng, who was the sole witness called during the inquiry, told the court that police investigations concluded the man had "planned the scenario to attack (his wife)" and take his own life afterwards.

The 39-year-old man pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated sexual assault by penetration and one charge of outrage of modesty.

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Coroner Prem Raj expressed his condolences to the next of kin and said he "largely agreed with the police findings" but would deliver his full findings on Oct 6.

Inspector Heng said according to interviews with the woman's parents and one of her sisters, as well as the man's brother, the couple married in 2000 and were initially happy.

However, the marriage soured after the man got into trouble with the law for drug offences in 2008.

Upon his release from prison, his temper worsened, her father told the police.

The woman, a teacher, filed a personal protection order against him in February last year after he tried to strangle her.

Such an order is issued when the court is satisfied that family violence has been or is likely to be committed. It is aimed at restraining a respondent from committing family violence.

After the incident, the woman moved out of their marital home in Punggol with their three children, aged 11, 17 and 18, to her parents' home in Tampines.

But her husband was undeterred, the court heard.

Insp Heng outlined at least five incidents within a year in which the woman made a police report that her husband had breached the protection order.

In an incident in March last year, she went to fetch her son from tuition when the man showed up and pressed his lips onto hers, causing her to feel "alarmed and offended", said Insp Heng.

Things culminated on Feb 10 this year. At about 6.20am, police camera footage caught the man following the woman closely before he called out to her and chased her.

Two witnesses heard her screams and saw a man attack her. They called the authorities and stayed with her until an ambulance arrived.

She was taken to Changi General Hospital where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy found that the cause of death was at least 18 stab wounds.

After the man fled the scene, he returned to the flat in Punggol and jumped from his unit at about 8.30am. He was taken to Sengkang General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

He did not leave a suicide note.