After meeting on the popular messaging service QQ in 2010, the Chinese nationals got married in 2012 and moved here separately to earn a living.
In June 2014, they held a customary wedding in China. But when they returned to Singapore, cracks began to appear in their relationship.
The husband, Zheng Xianghua, got suspicious when his wife, Madam Wang Xueyan, 37, started using make-up daily – something she had never done until after their wedding ceremony.
He noticed she began attracting male attention at her workplace in Marsiling, where she was a component assembler.
They quarrelled over it and other matters.
Zheng, a lorry driver for an air freight company in Changi, also suspected his wife of having an affair because of her text messaging habits, and they soon started living apart.
As he became more jealous and paranoid, their disintegrating marriage would end in the bloody death of Madam Wang on Dec 16, 2014.
Yesterday, Zheng, 38, was sentenced to nine years’ jail after pleading guilty to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
He was originally charged with murder but it was reduced when he was found to be suffering from depression and a delusional disorder. (See report above.)
About 1½ months before she was killed, Madam Wang moved out from their rented room in Woodlands to Marsiling Drive, while Zheng rented his own place in Tampines Central.
Before moving, she had smashed her mobile phone and refused to replace it, forcing Zheng to visit her once a week.
He later gave her a new mobile phone, but she frequently ignored his calls.
In early December 2014, Zheng asked his wife’s roommate to spy on her.
A few days later, the roommate told him that Madam Wang had bought a mobile phone and was using it to contact her supervisor at work.
He got jealous and suspected Madam Wang of having an affair with the supervisor.
On Dec 14, Zheng moved to another flat in Block 503, Tampines Central 1, renting a storeroom as his bedroom.
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He also bought a knife that he planned to use to confront his wife’s supervisor.
When he confronted Madam Wang about her mobile phone, she admitted to using it to contact her supervisor. He then insisted they swop SIM cards to stop her from keeping in touch with the other man.
The next day, he sent a picture of the knife to his friends in China via a chat group to give them the impression that he had confronted his wife’s supervisor.
On Dec 16, Madam Wang agreed to stay the night with Zheng in his new room.
After he picked her up at a bus stop, she had dinner in the room at about 10.20pm.
Aw Cheng Wei, The Straits Times, Lianhe Wanbao, Shin Min
They chatted and then had sex.
But they quarrelled when Madam Wang refused to allow Zheng to hug her, telling him she was tired and sleepy.
Zheng was furious and retorted that she could stay up late to talk to her supervisor.
He left the room, but they quarrelled again when he came back. He went out a second time and returned with the knife he had bought.
An angry Madam Wang then challenged Zheng to kill her.
As they continued arguing, Zheng hit his wife on the head and slapped her face.
When she told him she would no longer live with him, he stabbed her repeatedly. An autopsy showed that she was stabbed 14 times.
Frightened by the blood and gore, Zheng left the flat with the knife and went to the top of a nearby block with the intention of committing suicide.
He stabbed himself three times in the chest and slashed both sides of his neck with the knife, leaving the walls and floor covered with blood.
He climbed onto a parapet but did not dare jump, and was eventually pulled to safety by the police.
Zheng was suffering from disorders
The court heard Zheng Xianghua had suffered both “severe depressive episode without psychotic symptoms” and “delusional disorder, jealous type” at the time of the offence.
Dr Stephen Phang, who interviewed Zheng, said he was “evidently depressed” but was aware of the potential consequence of his offence.
Though Zheng was not of unsound mind at the time of the offence, his serious psychiatric disorders qualified him for the defence of diminished responsibility, Dr Phang added.
Recommending a jail sentence of between 10 and 12 years, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Si En said: “What would have been normal jealousy and suspicions about the deceased’s infidelity gradually evolved with the progression of time into pathological jealousy…”
Asking for “not more than nine years’ jail”, defence lawyer Ng Shi Yang said Zheng was remorseful for committing the offence.
“Causing the death of a human being, and no less a wife that he loved dearly, will haunt Xianghua for his remaining days.
“He makes no excuses for himself and bears full responsibility for his actions,” Mr Ng said.
In sentencing Zheng to nine years, Justice Choo Han Teck said he was of the view that the appropriate sentence for Zheng should be in the range of between eight and 12 years.
zaihan@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on April 12, 2016.
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