A building that dates all the way back to the 1950s in the Central Business District will soon be gone, and the cityscape of the area is set to change once again.

Afro-Asia Building, one the oldest office blocks along Robinson Road, is set to be demolished later this year in November.

Presently, the seven-storey building is occupied by MPH Bookstores. It will be by a new 19-storey building with offices, dining establishments, and a rooftop garden in a joint venture between Afro-Asia Shipping Co (AAS) and Shimizu Corporation Investment, according to Channel News Asia.

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Although the Afro-Asia Building is almost 70 years old, it is probably best remembered in recent times for something darker.

On Aug. 10, 2011, 71-year-old taxi driver Govindasamy Nallaiah went to a law office on the sixth floor of the Afro-Asia Building.

He was there to negotiate his payment of some legal fees that were due to a lawyer who had represented him in a corruption trial.

At the office, he met the lawyer's wife, Low Foong Meng, and they held the negotiation.

Unfortunately, things got heated and Govindasamy hit Low on her head with a bicycle chain and padlock till she collapsed. He then set fire to some files in the office before fleeing. Low was killed in the subsequent fire.

Govindasamy, who originally faced life imprisonment or death for murder, was later sentenced to 10 years' jail instead, for a lesser charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Top image from Google Street View

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