Odd-job worker Tharema Vejayan Govindasamy, 40, convinced that his wife's sister was using a spell to wreck his marriage to Madam Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz, consulted bomohs or black magic practitioners to save the union.

He told his friend Abdul Razak P. Maudu that his wife's family, all Muslims, were against him for being a Hindu and were dead set on interfering in his marriage.

The stormy five-year marriage ended with his wife's death from a fall from the 13th floor of a block of flats in Stirling Road - a fall he is now accused of having caused.

Mr Abdul Razak, who took the stand in the High Court yesterday for the second day running, said he noticed his friend acting out of character soon after he married Madam Smaelmeeral in 2002: He picked quarrels with good friends over small matters and burst into tears for apparently no reason.

In 2005, a worried Mr Abdul Razak introduced Tharema to a bomoh in Bukit Panjang, who prescribed 'blessed water' for him to drink and bathe in.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Striats Times.