Man Manipulated 15-Year-Old to Kill His Wife in $100K Plot — Then Cried at Her Wake

The teenage assailant slashed her neck and stabbed her in the chest before fleeing the scene, according to the judgment. Leong managed to stagger back to her mother’s apartment nearby before collapsing.

She was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where she died around 1 a.m. on May 15 from severe bleeding caused by stab wounds to her heart and lung, a forensic pathologist later determined.

Police arrested the teen and Ler four days later.

According to the judgment, Ler had befriended the boy years earlier and later began discussing killing his wife with a group of teenagers he met regularly at a McDonald’s in Pasir Ris. He eventually persuaded the 15-year-old to carry out the attack, promising him a six-figure payment.

The boy later confessed that Ler had shown him knives and demonstrated how to stab someone in the neck, while also instructing him on how to avoid leaving evidence. He also told the teen to take Leong’s wallet to make the killing appear to be a robbery, according to the judgment.

Investigators later found a torn piece of newspaper at the crime scene, where the knife had been wrapped — the rest of the paper was recovered from Ler’s home, linking him to preparations for the attack.

Despite the evidence, Ler initially denied involvement.

In the days after the killing, he attended his wife’s wake and tearfully spoke to reporters near her coffin, voicing grief and regret, according to reporting by The Straits Times.

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“The expression of shock, the seeming concern for the dying Annie and the tears at the funeral were nothing more than rehearsed acts performed by an accomplished actor,” the judge wrote in the ruling.

Prosecutors said Ler had a clear motive: his wife was seeking a divorce, and her death would allow him to keep their apartment and potentially gain custody of their daughter.

The teenager who carried out the stabbing was spared the death penalty because of his age and was detained indefinitely. Ler was convicted of abetting murder and sentenced to death. His appeal was later dismissed, and he was executed by hanging in Singapore in December 2002.

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