‘Stretch marks’ SMS caused man accused of killing wife’s lover to suspect affair
An SMS message about stomach stretch marks that “killed my temptations” read by Chia Kee Chen caused him to suspect his wife of having an extra-marital affair. It would trigger a chain of events that led to the killing of his wife’s younger lover Dexmon Chua Yizhi, the court heard on Wednesday (2 November).
Taking the stand in the High Court for the first time, 56-year-old Chia, who is facing one charge of murder, said that some time in 2011 he stumbled upon the SMS in the mobile phone of his wife Serene Goh Yen Hoon, now 49.
Chia confronted Goh about the SMS but she denied that she was having an affair with another man. He had pleaded not guilty to the offence of murdering Dexmon Chua Yizhi, 37, in 2013.
His lawyer, Peter Fernando, spent the whole Wednesday questioning Chia about his discovery of the affair and events leading to the alleged murder that took place between 9.44 am on 28 December 2013 and 3.17 am on 29 December 2013.
Chia is said to have committed the offence with two other accomplices - Chua Leong Aik and Indonesian Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko, 33. Leong Aik is current serving a five-year jail term for his role while Febri is currently at large.
Speaking in Hokkien through an interpreter, Chia said that not long after he discovered the SMS, Goh came clean about the affair.
Goh and Chua, who were colleagues at a packaging factory, became lovers in 2011 and ended the affair in 2012. Chua was married to a Thai woman while he was having the affair.
Video recording of the affair
In the previous hearing on 25 October, Goh testified that Chua wanted to have video footage of them having sex.
Appearing before Justice Choo Han Teck on Wednesday, Chia said Goh told him that Chua had recorded the sexual encounters with his wife using her phone. Chia added that Chua had clips of the lovers having sex that were saved in a thumb drive.
Chia said he confronted Chua about the clips over the telephone and was assured by the victim that the clips were deleted. But Chia claimed that the clips were shown to a number of colleagues of his wife and Chua and he was not happy about it.
During the hearing, Chia also admitted that he has another wife who was living in Tanjong Pinang, Indonesia. Chia said he has three children with his Indonesian wife. The balding Chia also has two children from his marriage with Goh.
A Malaysian named Ali
Looking calm and speaking slowly, Chia alleged that there was another man who was involved in the crime. He claimed that a Malaysian friend by the name of Ali had offered to help him to deal with “the problem”.
Chia said he met Ali at a coffeeshop in Johor Bahru in May 2013. When Chia told Ali about the thumb drive, the Malaysian offered to help him get it back for 5,000 Malaysian ringgit.
On the day of the alleged murder, Chia said that Ali had instructed him to wait for the unsuspecting Chua at the third level of the carpark in Choa Chu Kang, near where the victim lived. Chia added that Ali dragged the victim into the van and was the one who asked the accused to meet him at Lim Chu Kang.
Chia added that Febri had assaulted Chua in the van and they later handed the victim to Ali in Lim Chu Kang.
The trial will resume on Thursday (3 November). If found guilty, Chia faces the death penalty or life imprisonment.
