Murder of Wong Mee Hiong

On 2 December 1990, shortly after midnight, a 28-year-old Malaysian construction worker named Ta Bee Fath discovered the body of his fiancée, Wong Mee Hiong, hidden in the storeroom of the rented Tanjong Katong Road house they shared with eleven other Malaysian tenants. Wong, a 20-year-old born in Perak, Malaysia, had come to Singapore seeking employment. She had been stabbed three to four times in the chest and abdomen, and her body was wrapped in a bedsheet belonging to a male tenant who was not present at the house at the time. Forensic pathologist Dr Clarence Tan certified that two of the stab wounds were fatal, having penetrated her lungs.

Police investigating the death found that seven gold items belonging to Wong, worth approximately SGD$1,100, were missing. A bent kitchen knife recovered at the scene was believed to be the murder weapon. Wong's fiancé told investigators he had last seen her that morning and had asked her to buy lottery numbers in the afternoon; he grew concerned when she was absent that night and noticed bloodstains on her bed. The murder also caused the postponement of the wedding of the fiancé's younger brother, which had been scheduled for the following week.

On 10 December 1990, police arrested a suspect at a railway station as he returned from Malaysia. The man, identified as 22-year-old Yap Biew Hian, a Selangor-born Malaysian shipyard worker and fellow tenant of the house, was found in possession of a pawn ticket, and the missing gold items were traced to two pawnshops in Chinatown. He was charged with murder the following day.

Yap stood trial at the High Court beginning 8 March 1993, presided over by Justice Lai Kew Chai, with Choo Han Teck representing the defence and Mathavan Devadas leading the prosecution. Yap's police statements described how he had decided to commit theft, used an adjustable spanner to strike the sleeping Wong on the head, then stabbed her repeatedly with a knife when she continued to move, before wrapping her body and fleeing to Malaysia after pawning her jewellery. At trial, Yap admitted to the assault with the spanner but claimed he could not recall stabbing her, and he denied any intention to kill.

On 10 March 1993, Yap was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Justice Lai rejected Yap's claim that he intended only to rob, not kill, Wong, finding that two of the inflicted injuries were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death and that the stabbing was carried out in furtherance of robbery. Yap's mother reportedly wept in court upon hearing the sentence. On 11 October 1993, the Court of Appeal — comprising judges S Rajendran, L P Thean and Warren Khoo — dismissed Yap's appeal, upholding the finding that he had intentionally inflicted the fatal injuries. Yap was subsequently executed by hanging at Changi Prison.