Man to plead guilty to disposing body of missing teen Felicia Teo in Punggol in 2007

A man who had been accused of killing Ms Felicia Teo Wei Ling on June 30, 2007 was on Monday (June 27) given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the murder charge.

But he is expected to plead guilty next week to unlawfully depositing her corpse in a public place.

Those granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal can still be prosecuted for the related crime if relevant information or evidence were to emerge later.

Court documents do not disclose how Ms Teo, 19, died or who was responsible for her death.

Ahmad Danial Mohamed Rafa'ee, 37, had been accused of murdering Ms Teo in a flat at Block 19 Marine Terrace.

Another man, Mr Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana, then 18, was also allegedly involved, and the prosecution called for such a discharge for Ahmad as Mr Ragil, an Indonesian, is still at large.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Yang Ziliang and R. Arvindren said the prosecution is still waiting for Mr Ragil's arrest.

They told District Judge Eugene Teo: "Authorities have made and continue to make reasonable efforts to trace the co-accused. The Indonesian authorities have been informed and they are in the process of tracing (him).

"This is not a case where police have been trying for many years to trace the co-accused. The tracing of him only began after the accused was arrested 1½ years ago and new facts came to light during the investigations."

There is also no evidence Mr Ragil is dead, said the DPPs.

Ahmad is represented by lawyers Shashi Nathan, Tania Chin and Laura Yeo from Withers KhattarWong.

On Monday, Mr Nathan urged the court to grant Ahmad a discharge amounting to an acquittal, which would mean he cannot be charged again with the same offence.

The lawyer said the prosecution's proposal would mean his client would have a murder charge hanging over him indefinitely.

He added: "They are not just asking for a pound of flesh. They want you to lay your head on a wooden board and wait for the guillotine to fall."

The lawyer said Ahmad and his family had gone through a terrible time and his wife had to move out of her home as people had been bothering her.

He said Ms Teo's body has not been found, noting the authorities had instead found a skull fragment where Ahmad allegedly left her corpse around Punggol Track 24 on or around June 30, 2007.

Mr Nathan said the prosecution had told him they wanted to send the fragment to the United States for mitochondrial testing, which could involve DNA-related tests.

The lawyer said he has not received any updates on the matter.

Judge Teo granted Ahmad a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.

He noted Mr Nathan's concerns about having the murder charge hanging over Ahmad and added he has sympathies on the matter.

The judge said there may be a review in the future and accepted the prosecution's case.

He said: "Based on what we have now, I agree there is no basis for granting an outright discharge amounting to an acquittal."