Girl visits morgue to identify bodies of mother and grandmother

 Girl visits morgue to identify bodies of mother and grandmother

SINGAPORE - Germaine Ng, 17, arrived at the morgue to identify the bodies of her mother, Ms Andrea Tay Su Lin, 51, and her grandmother, Madam Rosaline Lim, 75, on Thursday morning at about 7.40am.


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Gurveen Kaur
MyPaper

It was a flat where just three women lived and neighbours said they often heard the two older ones - mother and daughter - quarrelling among themselves.

Early yesterday morning, however, some said that they also heard a male voice demanding to be let into the four-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4.

Some time later, there was a loud thud.

Rosaline Lim, 75, and her daughter Andrea Tay, 51, were then found dead.

Police received a call at 4.43am. The officers who arrived at the scene found Madam Lim's body, with multiple stab wounds on it, lying inside the sixth-floor unit of Block 105.

The body of her daughter, Ms Tay, was found at the foot of the block after she had apparently fallen from her flat.

Both women were dead and knives have been recovered from the scene.

Ms Tay's teenaged daughter is believed to have been present at the scene, though it is not clear if she played any part in the argument. She was later seen sitting outside the flat, looking very distraught.

There were bloody footprints at the kitchen windowsill from where Ms Tay had fallen.

When My Paper visited the unit yesterday, there were bloodstains at the door entrance.

Neighbour May Lian was awoken by the sound of the two women arguing at around 4am. Their voices could be heard for more than 30 minutes.

Another neighbour said he heard a man's voice, asking to be let in, but could not say whether the women complied.

Madam Lim and Ms Tay had lived in the flat for more than 20 years, but kept mostly to themselves, said another neighbour, Mrs Tan, 61. She described them as quiet and said she would speak more with Ms Tay, who is believed to be divorced.

"She would complain about her mother and how she would not clean up after cooking. I think the mother was depressed," said Mrs Tan. For retiree Madam Ho, Madam Lim was a "quiet person who kept to herself... and never complained... but was very helpful and loved to cook."

She first met her at the Church of Christ the King in Ang Mo Kio over five years ago and would regularly see her at masses and church meetings.

Along with two other church members who lived nearby, Madam Ho was at the block yesterday, filled with sadness as to what had happened and concerned for the granddaughter.

"We saw her last night (Tuesday) at a church meeting and she was supposed to give us kong bak pao today," said one of the other friends, who did not want to be named.

Described as very fragile, thin and bespectacled, Madam Lim would regularly cook for her friends and even take the food to their homes, she added.

Police have classified the case as "unnatural deaths".

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