Man who killed ex-lover apologised to wife before jumping from Tampines flat
He was a married man with three children who killed his ex-lover after she wanted to move on from the affair.
Chng Hong Nam, 49, a safety supervisor, stabbed Serinn Tan Bee Leng, 46, multiple times on her abdomen and chest and wrote a final message to his wife expressing remorse, before he jumped 10 storeys from Tan’s flat in Tampines to his death.
Details of the double death, which happened earlier this year, were revealed in a police investigation report read out by Senior Investigation Officer (SIO) Vicneswaran Rama Krishnan in a Coroner’s Inquiry on Tuesday (19 December).
On 29 May, Chng was found dead by police officers at the foot of a block of flats at around 11pm. An autopsy report found that Chng died from multiple injuries consistent with a fall from height.
The officers found Tan’s NRIC with Chng and went to Tan’s flat at Block 520A Tampines Central 8, where they discovered her body on a blood-soaked bed. Tan, who works as a sales marketer at a bank, had knife wounds on her limbs and abdomen.
SIO Vicneswaran told State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam that Chng and Tan met four years ago while Chng was working as a property agent. Chng’s wife later found out about the affair and confronted Tan but the latter denied it.
Tan, who was divorced with a son, wanted to end her relationship with Chng at the start of this year but the two kept in contact. When Tan moved to a new flat at Tampines a month before the incident, Chng expressed a desire to see her new residence. However, Tan made excuses to avoid seeing Chng.
By this time, Tan was in another relationship with her work supervisor, who is married. During police investigations, several of Tan’s colleagues described her as a “diligent and quiet” person who kept to herself.
In another attempt to visit Tan’s house, Chng lied that he was going on a work trip to Pakistan on 31 May, when there was no such plan. The two agreed to meet on 29 May.
On the day they met, Chng brought cable ties, gloves and a knife to Tan’s house. He then tied her up to the bed and stabbed her multiple times with a knife, after gagging her with a towel, according to police investigations. A knife sheath was later found on the balcony of Tan’s flat but the weapon was never recovered.
An autopsy report found that Tan died from stab wounds – one to her chest and two to her abdomen. She also sustained a deep laceration to her left forearm, which Tan received as she was using her forearm to defend herself from the attack. There were also marks on her ankles and wrists where she was believed to have been bound.
The cable ties were later found on the grass verge at the bottom of the block. These were believed to have been brought by Chng from his workplace, said SIO Vicneswaran.
A forensic examination of Chng’s mobile phone, which was found in Tan’s flat, showed that before Chng leapt from the balcony, he sent a farewell message to his wife.
The message, which was in Mandarin and English, read, “Baby, thank you for 20 years of companionship, thank you for giving me this home, though my infidelity caused a thorn of hate in your life, your hate should have settled.”
“I am not a good father… I am sorry to this family… baby I still prefer to call you ‘dear’, but this is the last (time) I’ll call you ‘dear’, love you my dear.”
Chng also addressed his children in the message, asking them to concentrate on their studies “no matter what happened” and to take care of their mother.
Tan’s sister, who was present at the inquiry with her parents, asked SIO Vicneswaran about Chng’s mental state. In response, the SIO said that Chng did not have any medical records of mental illness with any institution.
When interviewed by the police, Chng’s colleagues and family members also said that they did not observe Chng behaving abnormally.
The Coroner’s findings will be delivered on 19 January next year.
