Man accused of killing former air stewardess pleads guilty to reduced charge
17 Oct 2017 02:04PM
Singapore
(Updated: 17 Oct 2017 02:10PM)
SINGAPORE: The man accused of killing his former air stewardess girlfriend in 2015 pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Oct 17) to a reduced culpable homicide charge, after originally being charged with murder.
Neo Chun Zheng, 28, now faces life in prison and caning, or up to 20 years in jail with caning or a fine.
He had stabbed his then-23-year-old former girlfriend, Soh Yuan Lin, in the neck on Nov 26 that year after a heated argument outside his flat in Boon Lay Drive.
The couple had become acquainted when they worked in the same department at Marina Bay Sands in April 2014, and started dating in September that year. However, Ms Soh wanted to keep the relationship private and non-exclusive, which Neo had agreed to. They also began to be sexually intimate.
But when Neo found out that she was sleeping with another colleague in March 2015 while still seeing him, he got angry and they got into an argument. He also accessed her emails and WhatsApp messages without her knowledge, and forwarded compromising photos and messages of Ms Soh and the colleague she was seeing to himself.
He then showed these to his closer colleagues at MBS, threatening to circulate them should she anger him with her cheating again.
Neo and Ms Soh eventually broke up after another quarrel a year into the relationship, when the former found out that she was texting a man she met in a club and had kissed him. She felt that he was too possessive in their non-exclusive relationship.
HE COULDN'T LET GO
While they remained on speaking terms, Neo again got upset after learning that Ms Soh was going on a trip to Bangkok with a guy she had met in a club. Angered, he told his colleagues that he wanted her to die "an ugly death" in Mandarin.
He also could not let go of the fact that she started dating other guys after telling Neo she wanted to stay single. The accused told a friend in November 2015 that he was hurt by this, and said he contemplated using acid to disfigure her.
Between Nov 25 and 26, things escalated when he got angry after Ms Soh missed several of his calls and texts. When she did reply, he asked her to buy dinner for him, which she did and delivered to his doorstep. It was then that another spat took place.
Neo's mother, who was at home, witnessed the commotion and told her son to let her leave as he did not want to. He also snatched Ms Soh's mobile phone after she used it to inform her mother of the situation, and hid it under a loaf of bread in his home. She threatened to call the police after this happened.
Neo then went to his room and took a knife, measuring 9cm long. His mother saw this and tried to pry it away from him, but he pushed her aside and stabbed Ms Soh in the neck, resulting in a wound found to be 3.4cm long.
PSYCHIATRIC ASSESSMENT IN DISPUTE
When police arrived at the scene, Neo immediately surrendered and confessed that he stabbed Ms Soh in the neck. Paramedics then arrived and Ms Soh was pronounced dead at the hospital.
A psychiatric report presented by the state counsel in 2015 found that Neo had no mental disorder at the time of offence and was not of unsound mind.
However, Neo's lawyer is disputing this. They had conducted a separate psychiatric assessment, which found him to have a mental disorder at the time of the stabbing.
The prosecution is now preparing another report in response to the defence lawyer's report, and sentencing will be heard at a later date.
17 Oct 2017 02:04PM
Singapore
(Updated: 17 Oct 2017 02:10PM)
SINGAPORE: The man accused of killing his former air stewardess girlfriend in 2015 pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Oct 17) to a reduced culpable homicide charge, after originally being charged with murder.
Neo Chun Zheng, 28, now faces life in prison and caning, or up to 20 years in jail with caning or a fine.
He had stabbed his then-23-year-old former girlfriend, Soh Yuan Lin, in the neck on Nov 26 that year after a heated argument outside his flat in Boon Lay Drive.
The couple had become acquainted when they worked in the same department at Marina Bay Sands in April 2014, and started dating in September that year. However, Ms Soh wanted to keep the relationship private and non-exclusive, which Neo had agreed to. They also began to be sexually intimate.
But when Neo found out that she was sleeping with another colleague in March 2015 while still seeing him, he got angry and they got into an argument. He also accessed her emails and WhatsApp messages without her knowledge, and forwarded compromising photos and messages of Ms Soh and the colleague she was seeing to himself.
He then showed these to his closer colleagues at MBS, threatening to circulate them should she anger him with her cheating again.
Neo and Ms Soh eventually broke up after another quarrel a year into the relationship, when the former found out that she was texting a man she met in a club and had kissed him. She felt that he was too possessive in their non-exclusive relationship.
HE COULDN'T LET GO
While they remained on speaking terms, Neo again got upset after learning that Ms Soh was going on a trip to Bangkok with a guy she had met in a club. Angered, he told his colleagues that he wanted her to die "an ugly death" in Mandarin.
He also could not let go of the fact that she started dating other guys after telling Neo she wanted to stay single. The accused told a friend in November 2015 that he was hurt by this, and said he contemplated using acid to disfigure her.
Between Nov 25 and 26, things escalated when he got angry after Ms Soh missed several of his calls and texts. When she did reply, he asked her to buy dinner for him, which she did and delivered to his doorstep. It was then that another spat took place.
Neo's mother, who was at home, witnessed the commotion and told her son to let her leave as he did not want to. He also snatched Ms Soh's mobile phone after she used it to inform her mother of the situation, and hid it under a loaf of bread in his home. She threatened to call the police after this happened.
Neo then went to his room and took a knife, measuring 9cm long. His mother saw this and tried to pry it away from him, but he pushed her aside and stabbed Ms Soh in the neck, resulting in a wound found to be 3.4cm long.
PSYCHIATRIC ASSESSMENT IN DISPUTE
When police arrived at the scene, Neo immediately surrendered and confessed that he stabbed Ms Soh in the neck. Paramedics then arrived and Ms Soh was pronounced dead at the hospital.
A psychiatric report presented by the state counsel in 2015 found that Neo had no mental disorder at the time of offence and was not of unsound mind.
However, Neo's lawyer is disputing this. They had conducted a separate psychiatric assessment, which found him to have a mental disorder at the time of the stabbing.
The prosecution is now preparing another report in response to the defence lawyer's report, and sentencing will be heard at a later date.
