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Jan 6, 2008
DECOMPOSING BODIES IN FLAT
'Rubbish everywhere and terrible rotting smell'
Neighbours had previously knocked on the family's door after noticing that one of them had stopped following her trademark morning routine of buying the same provisions
By Mavis Toh & Jamie Ee Wen Wei
EVERY morning like clockwork, Ms Wong Ju Ling would leave her Lorong Ah Soo home at 7am to buy a copy of The Straits Times and a 500ml bottle of Coke Lite at a provision shop two blocks away.

Then it was to the coffee shop for three packets of rice for lunch - and always from the same stall.

But about a month ago, the 50-year-old suddenly stopped showing up.

The stall owner, who wanted to be known only as Mr Neo, noticed her absence. He thought she had moved out of the neighbourhood.

Neighbours in her HDB block of executive flats also noticed that she no longer went out to buy food for herself and her elderly parents. They thought the family might have gone on a holiday.

Madam Lim Ah Lek, 63, who lives two doors away, was concerned enough to knock on the door twice. Both times, no one answered.

It was only when a stench from the Wongs' flat on the fourth floor became so overpowering on Thursday afternoon that another neighbour decided to take action.

Madam A.S. Chiam, who lives in the unit below, rang residents' committee chairman Liew Soo Wah.

Mrs Liew popped around to the Wongs' and found Madam Ngai Hong Chee standing near the open door in brown pyjamas with floral prints.

She asked the 80-year-old where her daughter and husband were and was told that they were sleeping.

Peering in, Mrs Liew saw newspapers, food wrappers and even faeces strewn across the messy living room. 'It was like a karung guni's place, there was rubbish everywhere,' she said. 'There was also a terrible rotting smell.'

The windows were shut, curtains drawn and lights switched off.

It was Mrs Liew's third visit. She had knocked on their door twice before on Dec 19 and 21, but received no response each time.

National Environment Agency officers, who had visited the flat to check for mosquito breeding earlier that month, had told the town council that the family could be in need of help based on the mess in the house.

As she waited for the police to arrive, Mrs Liew kept up a conversation with the frail woman.

Are you all right? Do you need help? Where is your husband and daughter?

In fluent English, Madam Ngai maintained that all was well and said: 'No need', 'I don't need food', ' I'm fine'.

All the while, she insisted that her husband and daughter were asleep.

She was unable to open the metal grille when the police arrived. She could not find the keys to the lock. The officers had to break into the flat.

What they saw: The badly decomposed body of Madam Ngai's husband, Mr Wong Tong Seng, 82, on the living room floor among strewn newspapers and empty food packets.

In one of the bedrooms was Ms Wong's equally decomposed body on the bed.

The shocking finds mirrored a similar case last January in a Silat Walk flat, where a mother-and-son pair, both mentally ill, left the body of an elder son, Muhammad Saifudin Abdul Motalib, right where he had fallen a week ago.

In the latest case, there were two deaths. It also appeared that the Wongs did not have money woes.

They had lived in the executive flat for over 20 years, with no overdue conservancy charges or seeming financial problems, said the area's Member of Parliament Cynthia Phua.

The house was co-owned by the elderly couple and their daughter.

Mr Wong was a retired social worker while Madam Ngai used to be a teacher. Neighbours said Ms Wong did not appear to have a job, as she always stayed home.

But they thought that she might be suffering from a mental illness.

She always wore the same dirty, floral dress. Her shoulder-length hair, tied in a ponytail, could do with a wash. And it seemed to Indonesian maid Karsune, 37, who lives and works in a unit directly above the Wongs, that she went for days without a bath.

The consensus among her neighbours: She reeked.

But she was friendly enough, exchanging greetings with neighbours when they bumped into each other.

Other neighbours The Sunday Times spoke to said that they had not seen any of the Wongs for as long as seven weeks.

The elderly couple ventured out only for medical appointments. Mr Wong needed a wheelchair while his wife used a walking stick.

Looking back, minimart owner Terrence Pek said the state of the Wongs' flat could have signalled trouble.

Mr Pek had delivered two cartons of soft drinks to their unit last Chinese New Year and saw newspapers and dirty cups 'lying everywhere'.

'It was very dark and dirty and there was a stench too,' he added.

Neighbours also recalled Ms Wong behaving strangely when they last saw her.

A month ago, Mr Pek saw her loitering at the void deck with her tongue sticking out. She even asked passers-by for money.

Another third-floor neighbour, who did not want to be named, said he last saw her three weeks ago at the void deck.

He said: 'Usually, she would greet me but this time, she just walked by. She was in a daze.'

Madam Ngai has been warded in Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

She thinks that her husband and daughter are still alive. She told The Sunday Times that they were 'resting at home' and 'not doing anything'.

MP Phua said the Wongs' son, Mr Johan Wong, 54, visited the elderly woman yesterday morning.

According to Madam Ngai, her son is married and lives in Ang Mo Kio.

One neighbour recalled seeing him once at the Lorong Ah Soo flat, wheeling his father at the void deck.

Looking back, Madam Lim wished she had called for help when the Wongs did not answer the door.

'It's really a sad case,' she said. 'I could have saved two lives.'

mavistoh@sph.com.sg

jamieee@sph.com.sg


Rotting smell

'It was like a karung guni's place, there was rubbish everywhere. There was also a terrible rotting smell.'
MRS LIEW SOO WAH, chairman of the residents' committee who visited the Wongs' flat when a neighbour rang to inform her of an overpowering stench coming from the unit

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