Woman who plotted with lover to tamper husband's car jailed 5 months

SINGAPORE — A woman who convinced her lover to tamper with her then husband’s car as part of a plot to kill him was on Wednesday (11 March) jailed for five months.

Amanda Yeo Pei Min, 27, had last month pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to cause grievous hurt to her then husband Walter Ting Yong Chin.

Meanwhile, Leong Wei Guo, 25, was jailed for four months after he also pleaded guilty to attempting to cause grievous hurt to Ting.

Yeo had initially been charged with abetment to commit murder while Leong faced a charge of attempted murder. But the duo, who are no longer together, later had their charges reduced.

Yeo, an administrative assistant, and Ting, a Grab driver, had been going through an acrimonious divorce. She was also pregnant with Leong’s daughter at the time of the offence in early 2018.

A sharp-eyed passer-by called the police when he saw Leong, a delivery assistant, behaving suspiciously at a car park in the wee hours of the morning. He had been tampering with Ting’s car.

The daughter whom Yeo and Leong have together is being cared for by Yeo’s mother. Yeo and Ting have finalised their divorce.

Acrimonious divorce proceedings

Yeo and Ting married in September 2011 and they had a son and a daughter together. She later met Leong over Facebook and they became intimate.

In June 2017, Ting found out about his wife’s affair. She then moved out to live with her mother.

But four months later, Ting and Yeo moved to another flat where they slept in separate rooms. “Their frequent quarrels over divorce, the splitting of matrimonial assets and custody of their two children became acrimonious,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Houston Johannus.

Yeo was also pregnant with Leong’s child. She decided to kill Ting, thinking that his death would solve her problems, the court heard.

In early January 2018, she discussed the matter with Leong. She knew that Ting often sped while driving and hatched a plan to sabotage his car.

Leong agreed to Yeo’s plan and she gave him photos of Ting’s car and its registration plate number. The duo agreed that Leong would wear a pair of gloves and a mask to avoid detection.

Told lover to loosen wheel bolts, cut brake wires

Between 6 and 7 January 2018, Yeo told Leong to puncture Ting’s car tyres and passed him some nails. In the early hours of 7 January 2018, Leong went to the multi-story carpark where Ting had parked his car and inserted a nail into the front and rear left tyres of Ting’s car using a pair of pliers. He then took a photo of the tyres and sent it to Yeo.

Three days later, Yeo learnt that her husband would be driving to Genting with her in-laws and their two children the following day. She told Leong about the trip and both hoped that Ting would get into an accident and die.

Later that evening, Yeo quarrelled with Ting over the phone. She then told Leong that she wanted Ting dead and instructed him to loosen the wheel bolts and cut the brake wires. She had watched a video online that showed a driver losing control after a vehicle’s tyres came loose.

In the early hours of 11 January 2018, Leong went back to the multi-storey carpark with a wire cutter and a spanner. He tried to unscrew the wheel bolts of Ting’s car with the spanner but failed to do so and instead cut the anti-lock braking system (ABS) wire behind the car’s front right tyre.

A passer-by who was parking his car saw Leong walking around suspiciously with a jacket draped over his head and called the police. When officers arrived, Leong couldn’t properly explain himself to them. Policemen also found tools in his bag and he admitted to trying to damage Ting’s car and was arrested.

Yeo was arrested a few hours later, after her role was revealed via incriminating text messages found on Leong’s phone.

Ting’s car was sent to a mechanic for inspection. The severed ABS wire might have resulted in the car’s front right wheel locking during an emergency or hard braking, causing the driver to lose control of the car.

The prosecution had sought the jail terms that were meted out.

The duo could have each been jailed for up to a year and also fined $2,500 for their charges.

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