Witnesses heard whipping sounds and screams

He did not hide his festering rage.

In January this year, he warned his wife "to be careful as something big is going to happen..."

Some may have dismissed Ong Wei Poh's ramble on Facebook as harmless.

But since November 2014, he had posted three cryptic messages revealing his hatred for someone, adding "let the devil get what the devil deserve (sic) in due date".

At about 8am on Jan 30, Ong, 37, acted out his diabolical plan with a bloodbath at his Park View Mansion residence in Yuan Ching Road.

Ong fatally slashed his wife, Madam Koh Siang Hua, 39, leaving her with 30 wounds.

LUCKY ESCAPE

The family's domestic helper, Ms Jasmen Corpuz, narrowly escaped death after she was struck twice by Ong, Ms Corpuz told a coroner's inquiry yesterday.

The 37-year-old cried as she recounted the horrific event that resulted in both Madam Koh and Ong's deaths.

After dropping off the couple's six-year-old son at school that morning, Ms Corpuz returned home and overheard the couple talking in a room.

The couple lived in their third-storey unit with their son, Ms Corpuz and Madam Koh's mother, who was then overseas.

They were in the midst of a divorce after proceedings were filed in July 2014.

Madam Koh had filed for a divorce as she could not tolerate Ong being unemployed and living off her earnings, court documents revealed.

Ms Corpuz said in court that she heard Madam Koh, a director of TYT Corporation, screaming out her name in distress.

The helper rushed into the room, but was slashed twice on the left arm, suffering a deep cut from one of her wounds which required 22 stitches, said Ms Corpuz as she pointed to her scars.

She managed to run out of the room, but was chased round a table by Ong, who was armed with a chopper.

When Ong gave up chasing her, he returned to the room where Madam Koh was heard screaming.

BLEEDING

Ms Corpuz, who was bleeding, escaped and sought help at the first storey.

A resident had alerted the police. From below, witnesses heard "whipping sounds" and screams from the couple's unit.

Yesterday afternoon, State Coroner Marvin Bay gave his findings.

Said Mr Bay: "The evidence therefore points to a significant degree of premeditation by Ong, before he perpetrated an act of unlawful killing on his estranged wife... And thereafter following through his stated plan to commit an act of suicide."

Mr Bay said he found Ms Corpuz's testimony of the events quite compelling as she had given "testimony to having sight of Ong holding a chopper while chasing after her".

After police officers busted into the locked apartment, they discovered a grisly sight in one of the three rooms.

There, the naked body of Madam Koh was found lying face up in a pool of blood. She was barely conscious and was gasping for air. Police executed a forced entry into another room where Ong had locked himself.

They found him sitting on the edge of a bloodied mattress placed on the floor.

Just within Ong's reach was a blue-handled knife.

When police tried to handcuff him, Ong put up a brief struggle.

Later, the officers realised that Ong was bleeding from his stomach as a result of stabbing himself with the knife.

Investigations revealed that on the same day at 8.11am, Ong had sent an e-mail titled "Jurong Murder" to Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, individuals at the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Singapore Press Holdings.

In the e-mail, Ong had expressed his desire to kill Madam Koh before taking his own life.

At the crime scene, police also found a handwritten note left by Ong.

The note stated: "But with 12 years of insult & humiliation under her and the way she propose the divorce is the final limit for me... Since Singapore can't help me with my grievances and punish her for what she did. I will settle myself (sic)."

The couple both died at about 10.30am that day.

Madam Koh had died from "multiple incised wounds" to the neck, chest, head, back, upper and lower limbs, said Dr Marian Wang in a report. Ong died from four fatal stab wounds to the abdomen. Yesterday evening, The New Paper visited Ong's father, Mr Ong Teck Eng, 70, at his Toa Payoh flat.

Asked if he has seen his grandson, he said: "I didn't interact with my son when he was alive. I have also not spoken or seen my grandson in years. I don't want to talk about it."

zaihan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on August 22, 2015.
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