Why Would I Kill My Wife?
By Ignatius Stephen

Bandar Seri Begawan - "I loved my wife. Why should I kill her?" That is the question Liew Say Koo, a 45-year-old contractor accused of murdering his wife in the Brunei capital on July 12 at the Orchid Garden Hotel, recounted in a statement to the police after he was arrested.

This statement was tendered in court this week during the Preliminary Inquiry before Magistrate Faisal Pehin Haji Kipli into the murder of Wong Ai Na, 26.

DPP Suriana Bte Hj Radin is representing the Public Prosecutor while the defence was conducted by Mr Daljit Singh Sandhu, Mr Vincent Joseph and Ms Subriana Tan

He said he was shocked when he discovered his wife motionless in bed. He called the ambulance and the police, Liew's statement said. He had no idea she was dead at that time.

Liew, a Malaysian and a top building contractor in Brunei and the husband of the victim, has been charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code and if found guilty, Liew will face the gallows. The late Wong Ai Na from Limbang was his third wife.

The tragedy took place at the hotel on July 12 where Liew and Wong had checked-in two days earlier.

In the hotel they had a family quarrel which ultimately ended up in a fight resulting in the unfortunate death of Wong, the statement said.

The purpose of the Preliminary Inquiry, as provided for under the Criminal Procedure Code of Brunei, is for a magistrate to ascertain a serious charge such as murder whether there is sufficient evidence against an accused. In this instance Liew is charged with the serious crime of Turdering his wife.

If there is sufficient evidence for Liew to be charged, then the magistrate will frame the relevant and remit the case to the High Court for a full hearing before two judges.

If the magistrate is of the opinion that that there is insufficient evidence for Liew to face such serious charge, he can dismiss the charge of murder and release his of this charge.

During the Preliminary Inquiry, the prosecution tendered 60 items including the charge sheet, witnesses' statement and medical evidence.

The prosecution gave a list of 33 witnesses that they would be calling during the hearing. The statements of these witnesses have been given to the defence during the hearing of the preliminary inquiry.

There were also 225 photographs taken of the scene of the crime and many exhibits obtained from the scene. All these were tendered in the Court. During the hearing, each item was taken and given an exhibit number.

In the three statements given by Liew to the police which were tendered at the Preliminary Inquiry, Liew said that there was a quarrel between the two of them and a fight ensued but he did not kill his wife and had no intensions at all of killing his wife. He loved his wife and they had a three-month-old baby boy whom they loved very much.

He said that the fight ensued after he confronted her regarding an unpleasant incident that took place in Kuching on July 9, a day before she came to Brunei.

Instead of explaining to Liew, Wong was very abusive and used extremely foul language to him. This resulted in both parties having a quarrel and ending up in a fight.

After the fight, they were tired and both decided to go to the bathroom to wash and cool down. Then Wong went to bed and slept. Liew made some phone calls overseas to enquire about his son and also made several calls to his suppliers about his business. He boiled some water and watched television in the room while Wong was resting.

Sometime later, Liew decided to wake Wong because it was time for dinner. Then when he tried to wake her up he found that she did not respond. He was shocked. He had no idea at all that Wong had died. He tried to resuscitate her and when she did not respond, he immediately called the ambulance and the police.

Liew went down to the hotel lobby to wait for the ambulance which apparently overshot to another hotel. He ran to catch up with the ambulance and guided the medics to his hotel room. By then the police had arrived.

When the ambulance people saw Wong, they pronounced her dead. Liew was arrested that very night by the police and brought into police custody. Since then, he has been in remand in Jerudong Prison pending the outcome of his case.

At the end of the hearing, the Magistrate reserved his finding till Monday to rule whether the prosecution had made out a sufficient case for Liew to face the charge of murder in the High Court. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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