Woodlands double murders
The Woodlands double murders were the murders of pregnant housewife Choong Pei Shan and her daughter Teo Zi Ning by her husband Teo Ghim Heng on 20 January 2017. The murders, which took place in their Woodlands flat in Singapore, were supposedly committed due to Teo and his wife arguing with each other about their financial difficulties. During the argument, Teo was provoked by Choong's insults and strangled her with a towel before he killed his daughter, Zi Ning. The murder of Choong, in turn, made Teo responsible for murdering his unborn son; Choong was six months' pregnant when her husband killed her.
For the next eight days, Teo tried to hide the murders from his family and attempted to kill himself. On 28 January 2017, the first day of Lunar Chinese New Year, Teo's crime was discovered. This occurred because of a police report and a house visit made by Choong's brother, who was suspicious about the absence of his sister and niece. Teo was later arrested, tried, and found guilty of the murders. Teo was sentenced to death, and later lost his appeal & clemency to president. He was executed by hanging in Changi Prison on 16 April 2025.
The Woodlands family murder case was considered one of the most significant familicides in Singapore in recent years.
Background
Teo Ghim Heng, alias Eric Teo, was a Singaporean property agent who married Choong Pei Shan on 7 December 2009. This was not his or Choong's first marriage. The couple tried to have children, but Choong suffered from several miscarriages. In 2013, Choong gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Zi Ning. During his time as a property agent, Teo earned between $10,000 and $15,000 a month, and he was considered successful in his career. Many who knew him described Teo as a good father and committed husband, and a good, efficient worker who mixed well with others in his workplace. According to Teo's younger brother, Teo Nam Thia, and Teo's mother, Cheong Goik Keow, Teo did not confide in his family about personal problems.Sometime in 2014, Teo caught Choong in bed with another man named Mark Mu, with whom Choong had been having an affair. He forgave her because of their daughter, whom he at first suspected might not be his biological child. In 2015, the property market cooled, and Teo's income declined. Teo was experiencing difficulty in managing his family's finances, and did not pay Zi Ning's school fees for months. He also incurred debts from gambling, as well as borrowing money from his friends, colleagues, and financial institutions. The debt culminated into $120,000 by January 2017. In November 2016, he started working as a sales coordinator with a monthly salary of $1,500.
Choong became pregnant with their second child, confirmed to be a son, and his expected delivery date was in May 2017. Teo and Choong, in view of their financial troubles, initially wanted to abort the child in November 2016, but decided to not do so after some counselling. Teo contemplated selling his car and flat to pay off the debts. He reportedly asked Choong to take a part-time job to help manage the family expenses, but she declined.
The murders
On the morning of 20 January 2017, four-year-old Zi Ning was getting ready to go to school. Teo, who received notifications from the principal to pay Zi Ning's overdue school fees worth $1,700, knew that he would not be able to pay the fees. He was afraid of embarrassment if Zi Ning were asked to leave, and so told her to change out of her school uniform and watch television.When Choong heard about the problem, she and Teo began to argue about their financial situation. The couple had been arguing over finances since 13 January, when Teo's creditors came to their home to demand payment. This incident made Choong realize the extent of their debt. When Teo was brought to trial for the murder of his wife and daughter, he stated that during the argument, Choong belittled him for being a useless husband. She then asked Zi Ning to look at her father as she called him useless. During the argument, Teo claimed that he could not contain his rage and used a towel to strangle his wife, who was six months pregnant. The baby she carried died as well. Teo then strangled his daughter in the same manner, after he allegedly told Zi Ning to join her mother before he would join them.
Post-killing days and discovery
For the next eight days, Teo busied himself with preparations to take his own life. He surfed the internet for ways to commit suicide. He attempted to kill himself in various ways, such as slitting his wrists and consuming insecticide, as well as consuming hundreds of paracetamol tablets, but these methods were unsuccessful. He penned four suicide notes to his family under his and Choong's names to make it look like he and Choong agreed to kill themselves with their child given their stress over the family finances. During this period, when phone calls came from family and Zi Ning's school asking him where Choong and Zi Ning were, Teo said that they were busy or ill, and unable to come. Teo indicated that he and his wife and daughter could not go for weekly visits to his family's and in-laws' houses for dinner, and tried to delay the plans for the Chinese New Year visits. Teo changed his wife's Facebook page to make it look like she was still alive.On 28 January 2017, the first day of the Chinese New Year, Choong's brother Choong Mun Chen, became suspicious of his sister's absence. Gordon tried calling Teo, but Teo gave the excuse that he could not come over until 11 am. Teo later called in the afternoon through a payphone, saying that he had been driven out of the house by Choong after an argument, and tried to prevent his family and in-laws from visiting his flat in Woodlands. During the evening, Gordon, the eldest of the Choong family's three adult children and only son, appeared at Teo's flat after failing multiple times to contact his sister. Accompanied by his other brother-in-law, Chris Lam Kwek Fah, Gordon called for his sister to come out, but there was no response. It was then that he forced open a window and smelled a pungent odor.
The smell came from the smoke of a fire Teo had lighted earlier to destroy all evidence of his crimes. Teo attempted to use the same fire to burn himself to death. Police and firefighters were contacted and they arrived at the flat. Teo eventually told people at the scene that his wife and daughter were dead, and it was his fault.
Arrest and murder charges
Teo was arrested, and the charred corpses of the victims were found in the bedroom; he was taken to hospital for treatment of his overdose of paracetamol tablets. On 30 January 2017, Teo was charged with first-degree murder for the double homicide of his wife and daughter. First-degree murder under Section 300 of Singapore's Penal Code dictates an offence of murder committed with an intention to kill, and this offence carries the mandatory death penalty in Singapore. Forensic pathologist George Paul later tested the corpses and confirmed that both Zi Ning and her mother died from either strangulation or smothering. Teo was remanded for three weeks to undergo psychiatric evaluation after he spent his first two weeks in remand at the police headquarters for investigation.Many neighbors were shocked to hear about the murders, as they knew both Teo and Choong to be polite and friendly people. Many people, including PAP member of Parliament Vikram Nair from Sembawang GRC, came to the funeral to offer condolences to the bereaved family and the victims. The funeral was held by Roland Tay, who later authorized the cremation of the victims' corpses.
Trial
Proceedings
On 2 July 2019, Teo first stood trial in the High Court of Singapore for the murders of Choong Pei Shan and Teo Zi Ning. He was represented by leading criminal lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, and the three-men prosecution team was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Han Ming Kuang. Teo also faced a third charge of murder for killing his unborn son, but the charge was stood down for the time being whilst his trial for murdering Zi Ning and Choong.During the trial that lasted from July 2019 to July 2020, Teo gave his account of what happened and raised defences of diminished responsibility and grave and sudden provocation. Teo stated that he was gravely provoked by Choong and her insults during the argument on the day of the murder, which made him lose control out of extreme rage and kill Choong. His lawyer also argued that Zi Ning was the center of the provocation, since she witnessed the argument, which made the defence of provocation effective in Zi Ning's murder as well. Jacob Rajesh, a private psychiatrist, assessed Teo and stated that he suffered from depression due to him getting pressured and depressed by his financial debts, and the condition impaired his mental responsibility and thus qualified him for a defence of diminished responsibility.
However, DPP Han argued that Teo was in full control of himself, as the provocation by Choong's supposed hurtful words was not sufficient to make Teo lose control. Instead, the murders were committed in a methodical manner and not due to loss of self-control. Turning to Zi Ning, she was at the time watching television and playing with her toys, and she was not taking part in the arguments, hence she could not be responsible for the provocation. Teo was also not suffering from depression, as confirmed by the prosecution's psychiatrist Derrick Yeo, who described Teo's behaviour as "logical, goal-directed and showed planning". He said that Teo was able to make a choice to take his wife's life as he wanted the family to escape the financial burdens and also to not let Zi Ning be alone without love after her parents' deaths. Yeo also stated that if Teo could fabricate suicide notes and tried to find ways to commit suicide, as well as enjoying pornographic material, surfing the internet and watch videos, and observe regular meals and sleeping hours during the eight post-killing days, he was clearly in full control of his mental faculties and planning. Yeo also said that Teo told him during his psychiatric remand that he never regretted killing his wife, but he regretted killing his daughter, whom he called his "dearest".
Not only that, the prosecution presented evidence of Choong's phone messages, which showed evidence that Choong already knew about the financial debts since October 2016 and had wanted to help her husband to settle the debts, unlike Teo's claims that his wife only knew about it days before the murders. Their affectionate messages with each other showed that the couple was optimistic in spite of their difficulties, with Teo looking forward to his job and paying off the debts, and Choong planning to go back to work once their son turned two. They also charged that Teo, despite his denials, had not truly forgiven his wife for her affair with Mark Mu. After closing submissions were made on 5 July 2020, the High Court reserved its judgement until 12 November 2020.