A Singaporean has given a chilling account of how, without any deliberate involvement, he became part of a gruesome murder that his friend carried out in cold blood to get rid of his wife's ex-lover.
The man, a cleaning supervisor identified as Chua Leong Aik (67), was so dumbstruck that he drove the car without uttering a single word while his friend Chia Kee Chen (56) allegedly beat up and murdered his own wife's ex-lover, Dexmon Chua (37) in the back of the vehicle. At the end, Chua was so frightened that he stopped the van, got out and took a bus to get away from the horrific sight.
However, Chua was arrested and jailed for five years in January after he was found guilty of abduction and voluntarily causing grievous hurt. However, another Indonesian man identified as Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko (33), who allegedly helped Chua carry out the murder and dump the body, is still at large.
The police found the victim's decomposed body with severe head injuries from a military live firing area in Lim Chu Kang. The murder took place on 28 December 2013.
On 26 October, the second day of the trial, Chua was produced in the court as a prosecution witness. During the hearing, he told the court he had known Chia for over 20 years and they used to live in the same kampung.
Chua also said that though he and Chia were not close friends, they used to meet for coffee regularly and just knew that someone had bullied his wife Madam Serene Goh, reported The New Paper.
He also informed the court that he was holidaying in Tanjong Pinang, Indonesia, where Chia owns a fish farm, a week before the murder.
"HE SMELLED OF BLOOD"
On the day of the murder, Chua narrates that he thought he was going for coffee when he met Chia and Febi, but instead they got out of the car and began confronting a big-sized man in a multi-storey carpark somewhere in Choa Chu Kang, reported the news portal.
Chua also told the court that the other two accused then pushed the man inside the vehicle and asked Chua, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, to drive the van.
Chua reportedly revealed that Chia smelled of blood when he came close to give the car keys. A terrified Chua obeyed the orders and drove to Lim Chu Kang.
The news portal further reported Chua saying in the court he kept his eye on the road but could hear heavy breathing sounds coming from the back of the van. However, after some time he was so terrified that he got out of the van and quickly boarded a bus. From the bus, he saw Chia driving off.
During the hearing, it was also revealed that on 29 December, Chia visited Chua at his aunt's wake and handed him $50 as condolence money.
"Chia acted normally. I didn't see anything unusual about him so I thought nothing serious had happened," said Chua, according to the news site.
