Mr Teo Wan Kah, who owned car-parts shops in Singapore and
Johor, is believed to have been set upon by three or four masked
Chinese men when he drove his 19-year-old girlfriend a mother of
one who had recently left her husband back to her apartment after
a night of partying.
At about 4am, Mr Teo and his girlfriend, who works as a nightclub
singer, arrived at the car park of the five-storey block of flats
in Taman Permas Jaya where she stayed. As the couple walked towards
the boot of his modified Mitsubishi sports car to retrieve their
belongings, a group of men wearing ski masks approached them with
parangs in their hands.
The couple spilt up and ran off in different directions. The
attackers chased Mr Teo while his girlfriend fled to the third
storey, from where she witnessed the savage attack.
According to Malaysian Chinese-language daily Nanyang Siang Pau, Mr
Teo's pursuers caught up with him after 50m. He was slashed
repeatedly as he ran for another 300m before collapsing on a grass
patch.
The attack continued until the commotion alerted the neighbours.
They shouted at the men, who escaped in a blue Malaysian-registered
Proton Wira.
By the time Mr Teo's girlfriend got to him, the back of his head
was badly wounded and his left arm had been nearly chopped
off.
She got his lifeless body to the car and drove to a nearby
hospital. But Mr Teo was pronounced dead on arrival.
The fact that Mr Teo's girlfriend was unhurt and their valuables
including those in the car were untouched led to speculation that
it was a revenge killing.
The Malaysian police reportedly ruled out robbery. Johor Baru
(South) OCPD Assistant Commissioner Shafie Ismail told local
newspaper The Star that the case was being investigated as
murder.
After receiving the news yesterday morning, Mr Teo's parents, who
live in Yishun, went to Johor to claim the body.
Speaking to reporters outside the mortuary, Mr Teo's mother said
that although their only child who lived on his own seldom
visited or called them, he sent them a regular allowance.
She added: "He had a bad temper, but he is very filial and he cares
for the elderly."
At least three other Singaporeans in the past 13 years have been
killed in Malaysian crimes.
In 1993, a youth having supper in Johor Bahru died after he was
attacked by a gang.
In 1998, a 56-year-old businessman was shot while fending off two
robbers in Kuala Lumpur.
In 2004, IBM executive Patricia Wong Bao Bao was bound and stabbed
to death in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur.
Its a gang related crime i suppose. It can happen anyway. If
revenge was the motive, even when he was in Singapore he could be
murdered.
