Gardens by the Bay murderer appealing against conviction, life sentence for strangling lover to death

SINGAPORE — The man who was jailed for life after he was found guilty of killing his lover at Gardens by the Bay East is mounting an appeal, his lawyer Mervyn Cheong told a district court on Tuesday (Sept 24).

Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock, 51, appeared in court via video-link on Tuesday (Sept 24) over pending cheating and embezzlement charges.

Mr Cheong said that he filed a notice of appeal against Khoo’s conviction and sentence on Aug 21, about a month after he was sentenced in the High Court.

Khoo had faced either the death penalty or life imprisonment for the murder of Cui Yajie, a 31-year-old Chinese engineer, in 2016.

It was only the second case in Singapore’s legal history since 1966 where an offender was convicted of murder in the absence of a body.

In handing down the sentence in July, Justice Audrey Lim noted that there was “no evidence it was a sustained onslaught”, and said that she was not satisfied the death penalty — imposed when offenders show viciousness or a blatant disregard for human life — was warranted.

After strangling Cui, Khoo took her body to a remote spot in Lim Chu Kang and burnt it over three days until nothing was left but some of her hair, a brassiere hook and bits of charred fabric from her dress.

Khoo, who is married and a father, had fed her many lies during their relationship. He told her that he was single and that he owned the laundry firm he worked for, but he was only a retail outlet manager at Dryclyn Express.

He was charged in February — a month before his murder trial began — with two counts of criminal breach of trust as a servant, and four other cheating charges.

He will return to court on Nov 26. These charges will be dealt with after his murder appeal concludes.

Court documents showed that Khoo, as a marketing manager of textiles and laundry company Kendo Services, allegedly pocketed S$18,600 of sales proceeds and payment of franchisee fees between January and October 2015.

Between May and June 2016, he is accused of similarly misappropriating another S$5,779 from Kendo Services.

He is also accused of swindling about S$65,000 from four other women, some of whom had had extramarital affairs with him.