He is a ‘nice guy’, says wife of alleged love cheat accused of murder

SINGAPORE — She had initially told Institute of Mental Health senior consultant Kenneth Koh that her husband of more than two decades — murder suspect Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock — had not been violent to her in recent years.

But Madam Toh Lee Nah emailed the forensic psychiatrist the next day to say that his bouts of violence were “very frequent”.

In her email, she said that he frequently shouted at her when he was angry and would slam and kick doors. Khoo also used a pillow to hit her, she added.

Mdm Toh also said in her email: “I hope your report will favour Leslie. He is a nice guy who really (is) a good father… Definitely, we love him.

“He has been getting better and trying to control his tempers all these days. At least, he has been less violent to us as years go by.”

Dr Koh had interviewed the couple in 2016 after Khoo, 50, was arrested for the alleged murder of his lover, Chinese engineer Cui Yajie. The email was sent after he conducted another interview with them last month following a report by Dr Ken Ung Eng Khean, Khoo’s private psychiatrist, which stated that he has intermittent explosive disorder — an impulse-control condition that might have caused him to lose control of his actions on the day he killed Cui.

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Mr Mervyn Cheong of Advocatus Law, who is representing Khoo, is using Dr Ung’s diagnosis to argue that the case should be considered an exception to murder on the basis of “diminished responsibility”.

Testifying in court on Wednesday (March 13), Dr Koh said that Mdm Toh — who works as a lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic — had asked him before the end of last month’s interview if having her husband diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder would “help him”.

VICTIM’S PARENTS DID NOT APPROVE OF RELATIONSHIP

Dr Koh also said that Khoo was “somewhat evasive” in his responses and was “self-justifying” at times during the interviews.

When the psychiatrist asked Khoo in 2016 to describe how he had killed Cui, the accused said that she had kept cursing him in Mandarin in the car and telling him that he had reached a “dead end”.

He also told Dr Koh that Cui had threatened to tarnish his reputation by publicising his criminal record and extramarital affair on Facebook.

Reading from his notes, Dr Koh narrated what Khoo had told him: “That day I cannot control myself. I was hit by her (on my) right forearm. We had (a) struggle… I had already told her before she can open her mouth but cannot (go physical).”

Khoo also denied that Cui was his girlfriend, saying that she was not “his type”. While he denied having an extramarital affair with her, he admitted that he gave her flowers and presents, and bought her a cake to celebrate her birthday.

When Dr Koh asked about the S$20,000 Cui had given him for investment, Khoo told him: “She was a greedy woman. She wanted to do business.”

Cui’s mother, Madam Liu Rui Ping, also took the stand on Wednesday after flying in from Tianjin, China to testify in court.

Mdm Liu and her husband found out about their daughter’s relationship with Khoo shortly before she was killed and they had not approved of it, said her mother.

In her written statement, Mdm Liu said that Cui came here in 2012 to work and earn more money. She had last seen her daughter in June 2016 when the latter returned home to Tianjin.

During that trip, Cui told her parents that she had started a romantic relationship with a Singaporean man who she thought worked as the chief executive officer of a laundry company. Khoo was in fact a retail outlet manager for laundry company Dryclyn Express.

Cui also said she was unhappy whenever he visited his 12-year-old son as his former wife would be present, but he had appeased her by saying that she should not be bothered by his past.

Madam Liu then said that Cui should get to know him better, while her husband made it clear that he would not agree to their relationship.