MORE than 100 women working in the stretch of budget brothels along Flanders Square in Little India all had an important appointment to keep on Sunday.

They had to go to the Criminal Investigation Department in the Police Cantonment Complex to give statements on what they knew about the murder of one of their co-workers on Saturday evening.

At about 7.15pm, the victim, a 41-year-old Malaysian woman, stumbled out of a room on the ground floor of a three-storey building with a knife still lodged in her chest.

The male resident of the neighbouring unit said he heard a scream and had rushed over to see what happened. Her co-workers had also rushed out to help but it was too late. She was lying face-up on the ground floor in one of the units in Flanders Square, a dead-end street off Petain Road.

Around mid-day yesterday, scores of women who work in the neighbouring brothels were seen leaving in a convoy of cabs and cars.

Some returned in small groups about two hours later but declined to reveal more about the murder.

Police have yet to arrest anyone in connection to the case. But, they do have a suspect in mind, a police spokesman said yesterday. The man is described as dark-complexioned and about 1.65m tall.

Neighbours believe the suspect was a regular patron of the dead woman, who goes by her working name Coco.

She was described as being over 1.7m tall, slim and attractive. Coco was known as an ang pai in that area which means she was one of the most popular prostitutes there.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.