Woodlands double murder: S'porean man hanged for killing pregnant wife & daughter in 2017

Teo Ghim Heng, 49, was hanged on Apr. 16 for the murder of his daughter and his wife, who was six months pregnant.

He strangled his wife Choong Pei Shan, 39, and daughter Zi Ning, who was four years old at the time, to death in their Woodlands flat on Jan. 20, 2017, and burned their bodies a week later.

Teo was accorded full due process under the law and was represented by legal counsel both at the trial and at the appeal, the police said in a new release on Apr. 16.

"His petitions to the president for clemency were unsuccessful," they said, adding that capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious crimes, including murder.

Teo, who was given the capital punishment in November 2022, had attempted to appeal against his sentence.

He requested to be convicted of culpable homicide instead, arguing that he suffered from depression, which diminished his responsibility, according to The Straits Times.

The apex court found Teo did not qualify for a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, and his appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in February 2022.

What happened

Teo was a property agent from 2011 to 2013, earning around S$10,000 to S$15,000 when the property market was booming.

However, his earnings plummeted once the market began to weaken, resulting in him eventually taking up a job as a sales coordinator, which was unable to sustain his family expenses, including his daughter's school fees.

He also began having a gambling habit.

By the end of 2016, Teo's debts had piled up to around S$120,000, and he had listed their flat for sale and made plans to sell his car.

On Jan. 20, 2017, Teo decided not to bring his daughter to school on account of the school fees he owed and feared she would be turned away from school, causing an embarrassing scene.

Teo and Choong quarrelled about the family's financial situation in the master bedroom, where Choong berated Teo and called him useless.

Teo then strangled Choong with a towel, and proceeded to do so with his bare hands when he realised that she was still breathing faintly.

He repeated the action on his daughter, killing her in the same manner.

For a week after the murders, Teo slept next to the bodies in the master bedroom's bed, where he claimed to have attempted suicide by different means.

Teo then burned the bodies, and said he wanted to burn himself with them, but aborted after finding the heat unbearable.

The bodies were discovered on Jan. 28, 2017, after Choong's family grew suspicious of Choong's absence.

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Top image via file photo & Unsplash