Prosecution seeks death penalty for man who murdered wife's ex-lover
Prosecutors yesterday urged the High Court to impose the death penalty on a businessman for the savage murder of his wife's former lover.
Chia Kee Chen, 57, had been found guilty in January of forcing the victim, material analyst Dexmon Chua Yizhi, 37, into the back of a van and assaulting him, together with Indonesian Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko, between Dec 28 and Dec 29, 2013. A second accomplice, Chua Leong Aik, drove the van but later fled.
"This was a planned and premeditated attack on an unsuspecting victim who had made a cuckold out of the accused," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Wen Hsien.
She argued that Chia, who found out about his wife's extramarital affair in November 2012, bore fatal grudges against the younger man.
The victim had made police reports that Chia was making threatening phone calls and stalking him.
Ms Tan said the assault was "savage" and "cruel".
The victim was tied up and thrown into the back of the van and was battered so viciously that almost every bone in his face below the eyes was fractured.
She noted that Chia had carried out his attack in a calm and collected manner.
On the day of the murder, he attended a wedding lunch with his family and had a nap before collecting the borrowed van to calmly lay in wait for the victim to turn up at the carpark near his Choa Chu Kang home.
After dumping the victim's body at a military live-firing area in Lim Chu Kang and cleaning the van, Chia went to Malaysia for a holiday with his family.
Ms Tan also pointed to his "utter lack of remorse". It was 10 days after his arrest that Chia admitted to hitting the victim with a hammer-like object.
Justice Choo Han Teck will deliver his decision later.
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