Triple murder in Yishun A
girl shouted 'don't', then there was silence Neighbour recounts moments before the
mayhem By Chong Shin Yen and Amanda
Yong September 21, 2008 
FOR days they had quarrelled, loudly enough for their neighbours
to realise that they had relationship problems.
SCENE OF VIOLENCE: Blood stains on the kitchen floor and
kitchen toilet door of the rented flat. The injured 14-year-old
girl - daughter of the suspect's lover - was found in this toilet.
She is now fighting for her life in intensive
care.
Early on Friday, shortly after midnight, the neighbours heard
loud noises from the Yishun flat again.
But this time, the shouting was accompanied by loud screams,
followed by a loud thud and a girl's crying.
Neighbours who looked out saw a body lying below and blood on
the window ledge of the sixth-storey unit.
Soon, they would learn that two women and a teenage girl had
been killed in a bloody rampage.
As to what had sparked it, only the suspect and his lover's
teenage daughter, who is fighting for her life in hospital, can say
for sure.
The triple murder was uncovered after the police received a call
about a body at the bottom of Block 349, Yishun Avenue 11 at
12.50am.
A 42-year-old woman in a blue floral sleeveless dress was lying
face-down near the rubbish chute.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
STUDY MAMA TRAGEDY: The police and undertakers removing one
of the bodies from Block 349, Yishun Avenue 11 . The victims have
not been formally identified yet. --TNP PICTURE: GAVIN
FOO
In order to establish where she had fallen from, the police went
knocking on residents' doors floor by floor.
That was when they noticed bloodstains on a padlock on the gate
of a sixth-storey unit.
The two women and their daughters lived together with a man in
the five-room flat.
The man was said to be the lover of the woman at the bottom of
the block.
When the police knocked on the door, he refused to let them into
the rented flat.
Instead, the 42-year-old man was heard asking them what they
wanted.
A neighbour, Averic Toh, 17, who lives on the floor above them,
said the man sounded agitated.
The student said: 'I heard him asking thrice in Mandarin, 'What
do you want?'.
'The man then said 'China' in English. From his accent, I could
tell that he was from China.'
A Mandarin-speaking police officer then went to the unit.
ARRESTED: The suspect. --PICTURE: LIANHE
WANBAO
'I could hear a voice asking him in Mandarin to open the door.
But the man did not respond,' Averic said.
'Not long later, I heard them breaking down the door.'
When the officers got in, they discovered the bodies of a
36-year-old woman and her 17-year-old daughter in a bedroom.
Chinese national
The man, a Chinese national, did not put up a struggle when he
was arrested.
His lover's daughter, 14, was found with stab wounds in the
kitchen toilet.
She was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where she is in the
intensive care unit.
Her mother is believed to have been thrown out of the kitchen
window.
Both women were study mamas who had accompanied their daughters
here from China.
The police are not releasing their names as they have not been
formally identified.
Neighbours said they were awoken by piercing screams from at
least three women soon after midnight.
Averic said: 'I was woken up by my elder sister, who had heard
screams and shouts coming from the unit below ours.'
He said they lasted for a few minutes before he heard a loud
thud.
He then heard a girl crying.
Averic's father, Mr Toh, said: 'I could hear a girl's voice
shouting 'Don't, don't' in Mandarin. Then everything went
silent.'
The 54-year-old mechanic said that not long later, he heard a
man shouting but he couldn't make out what he was saying.
Averic then looked out of the kitchen window and saw the body of
a woman downstairs.
He said: 'The window ledge below was covered with blood and the
unit was unlit. The windows were pushed open slightly but the
window grilles were open fully.'
Averic heard ambulance sirens soon after.
He went out to the common corridor and that was when he heard
the conversation between the police officers and the man inside the
unit.
Averic said: 'I saw a young girl on a stretcher being pushed
into the waiting ambulance.
'Her clothes were soaked with so much blood that I couldn't even
tell what colour they were. There were also many cuts on her face
and legs.'
Mr Toh added that it was not the first time they had heard
quarrels from the occupants, who moved into the unit less than a
month ago.
'The arguments had started a few days ago. I could hear both
male and female voices. They were quarrelling about relationship
problems,' he said.
Quarrels
Another neighbour, who lived on the ninth storey, said that just
before the woman fell to her death, she heard things being dragged
around loudly and the sound of something heavy being dropped on the
floor.
Miss Lam, 22, said: 'There were screams from a woman, but it
didn't seem like she was asking for help. It sounded as though she
was fighting with someone.'
The Forensic Management Branch of the Criminal Investigation
Department spent at least 15 hours inside the unit.
Several items, including some foldable single mattresses, window
blinds, kitchen utensils, a fan and dining chairs, were seized from
the flat.
Two knives, believed to be the weapons used, were also recovered
from the flat.
Police investigations are ongoing.
A man is expected to be charged today with murder.
