SINGAPORE, April 16 — Teo Ghim Heng, a former property agent convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and four-year-old daughter in 2017, was executed today at Changi Prison Complex.
The 49-year-old strangled his wife, Choong Pei Shan, 39, who was six months pregnant, and their daughter, Zi Ning, in their Woodlands flat on January 20, 2017, before setting their bodies on fire.
The Singapore Prison Service confirmed the execution, while police stated Teo had been accorded full legal due process and was represented by counsel throughout his trial and appeals, according to a report in The Straits Times today.
His clemency petitions to the president were also unsuccessful.
Teo was sentenced to death by the High Court in November 2020, and the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal in February 2022.
He had argued that he suffered from depression which diminished his responsibility, but the courts ruled he did not qualify for a major depressive disorder diagnosis and could not rely on the defence.
Teo married Choong in 2009 and was once a successful property agent, but faced financial difficulties after the market downturn in 2015 and accumulated debts of about S$120,000 by the end of 2016.
On the morning of the murders, after a financial dispute, he killed his wife following an argument where she berated him, and then strangled their daughter.
He lived with the corpses for a week, using the air-conditioner to slow decomposition, before setting them ablaze in an alleged suicide attempt that he later aborted.
The bodies were discovered on January 28, the first day of Chinese New Year, after Choong’s family contacted the police.
Teo was convicted on two counts of murder; a third charge for killing his unborn son was withdrawn.
The High Court rejected his claims of provocation, noting he took calculated steps to cover up the crime, including purchasing air fresheners, fabricating suicide notes, and misleading family members.