Eight years since they started their romantic relationship, two men faced a tragic end to their story together — one was stabbed to death while the other will serve 12 years in jail for homicide.
Heartbroken over their impending breakup, 40-year-old Tan Chee Yeow killed his lover at a walkway near Ang Mo Kio MRT in the morning of September 4 last year, The Straits Times reported. Tan Chin Siong, 48, an assistant vice-president at a local bank, had been stabbed to death after informing his lover that he no longer wanted to continue the relationship.
The two Malaysian men first met in Johor Baru in 2007, and they both moved to Singapore that same year. It was in 2012 that their relationship began to see cracks — Chee wanted to be publicly recognised as Chin’s partner, but the latter wanted to hide their relationship from his parents.
In addition to having a drinking problem, Chee threatened to commit suicide several times and threw a tantrum over Chin’s refusal to introduce him as a partner to his family members.
On August 29 last year, Chee called his lover’s home in Johor Baru and came clean to the latter’s mother about their relationship. Shocked over the homosexual revelation of her son, the mother told Chee that “it was not possible for them”. Chin then told Chee that he was not gay and that he wanted to get married and have children.
A visit to the psychiatrist also saw the doctor informing Chin to delay the break-up while Chee was on medication to stabilise his emotions.
It was on the morning of September 4 that Chee brought a knife along with him as he looked for his lover. Pleading with Chin to break up with him “slowly”, the latter simply kept quiet as they trudged along the walkway near Ang Mo Kio MRT station. Further pleas to stay for a while were ignored as Chin said he had to keep his family company.
Driven to desperation, the accused then stabbed his lover twice in the chest and once in the back. An unidentified passer-by managed to struggle with Chee for a while and kicked the knife into a drain. Meanwhile, other passers-by carried out cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the fallen victim before paramedics arrived.
Chee was arrested at the scene, wailing about having killed someone. Chin was pronounced dead in the hospital around 9.15am.
In court, Chee pleaded guilty to his charge of culpable homicide and was sentenced to 12 years in jail. He wrote a letter of remorse, seeking forgiveness from Chin’s family. “I really loved him,” he wrote. “This is the regret of my life and eternal pain.”
The accused’s lawyer told the court that it was a case of “betrayed love”, where Chee simply wanted to be recognised as Chin’s life partner, but failed to see it fulfilled.
