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SINGAPORE - Following the Kovan murder incident at 14J Hillside Drive last month, neighbours noticed something strange about the residence: The lights of the corner terrace unit have been left on round the clock.
This is despite the fact that the family which occupied the house appears to have moved out.
Car-workshop owner Tan Boon Sin, 66, was found dead in the house on July 10. His son, businessman Tan Chee Heong, 42, reportedly staggered out of the home bleeding profusely, and his body was dragged by a car for about 1km before it was dislodged outside Kovan MRT station.
Police officer Iskandar Rahmat, 34, was arrested on July 12 and charged on July 15 with the murder of the two men.
When My Paper visited the house yesterday afternoon, the porch lights and those indoors were still on. The home appeared to be unoccupied, with the windows and doors closed. There appeared to be a toy car, big enough for a child to sit in, in the driveway.
The lights at the house have been left on since the two men's funerals on July 16, said a 63-year-old housewife who lived nearby but did not want to be named.
Another neighbour, who wanted to be called Eugene, 26, said that the lights could have been left on because of a common Chinese belief.
Buddhist and Taoist practitioners said the practice was not a religious one, but based on a folk belief. Mr Marson Ang, a 39-year-old Buddhist teacher, said the belief was that leaving the lights on would "ensure that spirits do not return".
Neighbours said they have seen Mr Tan Chee Wee, Mr Tan Boon Sin's younger son, return to the house several times, possibly to do housekeeping.
"Just last Saturday, I saw him washing the floor of the driveway," said a neighbour who declined to be named.
Some neighbours have spoken with Mr Tan Chee Wee in the past, but have not caught up with him since the incident, as they felt that it was still "not the right time" to do so, said Eugene.
