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Gardens by the Bay murder trial: Accused was ‘in full control’ of actions when killing victim, says prosecution

SINGAPORE — He told his psychiatrist he remembered grabbing his victim by the neck and pressing on it. He also told the police in a statement that he was “very agitated”, stretched out his arm and grabbed Cui Yajie’s neck for an unknown period of time.

Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock (left), 50, is on trial in the High Court for strangling Cui Yajie (right), a 31-year-old Chinese engineer, to death in his car at a secluded spot in Gardens by the Bay East on July 12, 2016.

Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock (left), 50, is on trial in the High Court for strangling Cui Yajie (right), a 31-year-old Chinese engineer, to death in his car at a secluded spot in Gardens by the Bay East on July 12, 2016.

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SINGAPORE — He told his psychiatrist he remembered grabbing his victim by the neck and pressing on it.

He also told the police in a statement that he was “very agitated”, stretched out his arm and grabbed Cui Yajie’s neck for an unknown period of time.

However, Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock denied this under cross-examination on the sixth day of his murder trial on Wednesday (March 20) and said that his killing of Cui was “an accident”.

The prosecution charged that he was departing from his previous statements because he wanted to paint a picture in court that he was “so out of control” he could not remember details about killing Cui.

Deputy Attorney-General Hri Kumar Nair dismissed Khoo's testimony and said that he had full control of his actions.

Khoo, 50, is on trial in the High Court for strangling to death Cui, a 31-year-old Chinese engineer. They were in his car at a secluded spot in Gardens by the Bay East on July 12, 2016 when it happened.

While he does not deny killing her, his defence is that there was grave and sudden provocation that led to a quarrel. This would be an exemption to murder, and he would be convicted of the lesser charge of culpable homicide instead.

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‘LET ME OFF’

The contents of Khoo’s police statements regarding the events on the morning of Cui’s death were the subject of a lengthy exchange in court between Mr Nair and Khoo on Wednesday.

Khoo told the police that he begged and kowtowed to Cui to “let me off” and not to expose his lies, as she had threatened to tell his wife and others on Facebook that he had been lying about owning a laundry business. He was a retail outlet manager at Dryclyn Express, but previously told Cui that it was a family business.

He also told the police Cui started to hit him with “something” before they began to struggle.

On the stand, Khoo disagreed with several aspects of his own statements, as well as Mr Nair’s assertions.

He said that he did not tell Cui to “let me off”, but instead “not to blow things up”. However, when Mr Nair questioned him later, he said that telling her to “let me off” was the truth.

“Your story keeps changing. I don’t know which one is correct anymore,” Mr Nair said.

When Mr Nair put it to him that he killed Cui because his begging did not work, Khoo said in Mandarin through an interpreter: “No, this was an accident. Not possible.”

Mr Nair said: “You knew if the deceased went to complain about you, your whole life would be over — your job, your family destroyed.” 

“On the surface, yes,” Khoo replied.

Khoo later claimed that he did not stretch his right arm out and grab Cui’s neck, as he had told the police.

He told the court that he cannot remember saying to the police, “I was very agitated… I don’t know how long I pressed and I was not looking at her".

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REMEMBERED PRESSING NECK

At one point, Mr Nair read out a report from Dr Ken Ung — Khoo’s private psychiatrist — detailing Khoo’s recollection of the events to him.

The report stated: “She continued to scream and berate him… ‘Something hit me, she scream, scream, scream.' His recollection after is hazy and recalls grabbing her by the neck and pressing.”

Mr Nair said to Khoo: “So you told Dr Ung you recall grabbing her by the neck and pressing.”

Khoo replied: “After she died, I pressed on her neck.”

“Nice try. That was not what you told Dr Ung. You recalled grabbing her by the neck and pressing on it. That flatly contradicts what you are telling the court — that you did not recall grabbing her by the neck till after she was not moving,” Mr Nair said.

Khoo disagreed.

Mr Nair continued reading Dr Ung’s report: “(Khoo) recalls grabbing her by the neck and pressing, and either thinking or shouting out: 'Why don’t you stop the nonsense? I cannot take it.”’

Mr Nair then added: “You could also recall what was going on in your mind or what you were shouting. It was while you pressed her neck that you shouted.”

“I don’t remember,” Khoo said.

Mr Nair continued: “The reason why you could remember all the details given to the police of the killing is because you were in full control of what you were doing.”

“Impossible. I’m not that great,” Khoo said.

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PUT PASSENGER SEAT DOWN

Mr Nair also questioned Khoo about not calling for help if he had accidentally strangled her to death and believed she could still be alive.

Khoo said that she was “already not moving” and his “mind was a blank”.

Mr Nair accused him of not calling for help because “her death is the outcome which was convenient for you”.

The prosecutor then referred to one of Khoo’s police statements, where Khoo said that he lowered the front passenger seat where Cui’s body was, so that she “can rest in peace”. Khoo then went on to say in the statement that he covered the body with a laundry bag to “conceal it”.

“You’re talking nonsense. You lowered the seat so people driving by would not see her dead body… so you could cover up for your own crime, to hide the body,” Mr Nair said. “Your next sentence shows what a liar you are. It’s nothing about resting in peace. You lowered her so you could pile your laundry bag on top of the body to cover it.”

Khoo told him he did not think of this and “just naturally put the seat in a flat position”. He also did not deny covering the body with the bag.

The trial continues on Thursday, with Mr Nair expected to complete his cross-examination.

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