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Now both the youths are in prison with blood on their hands. The wonder of it all is how these modern day Fagins managed to manipulate them to commit the ultimate crime.
But the two adults operated just like Charles Dickens' Fagin, who tethered the orphans to him with food and shelter, intimidation and intimacy, so that they would steal for him.
The two local cases are six years apart.
Pub hostess Aniza Essa, 25, had got her young lover, Muhammad Nasir Abdul Aziz, 17, a school
dropout, to stab her husband last year.
The woman was jailed for nine years because a psychiatrist found she had suffered a moderate depressive episode which impaired her responsibility for the offence.
The youth is now imprisoned indefinitely.
In 2001, Anthony Ler, 35, got a 15-year-old student to stab his estranged wife. Ler was hanged while the youth is in jail.
The two cases have many parallels.
The younger boy knew Ler for five years and treated him like an uncle. Nasir knew Aniza Essa for two months and fell madly in love with her.
Ler and Aniza dangled tempting rewards: He offered $100,000 cash; she vowed to be with Nasir for good.
Temptation was tempered with taunts and threats.
Ler belittled his young friend, telling the boy that his best friend would make a better killer because he was more mature and stable. He also threatened to kill the boy.
Aniza threatened to leave Nasir. Her ex-boyfriend, she said, was willing to do what he dared not do - kill for her - and then marry her.
According to lawyers and psychiatrists, an older manipulator can snare a younger pawn into playing his game by pressing the right buttons.
Lawyer Subhas Anandan described the process as a deliberate and elaborate courtship ritual.
The manipulator would often begin by getting close to his younger accomplices to 'suss out their weaknesses'.
'They could be from broken families and need someone to look up to. Or they could want to boost their own self-esteem by getting the respect they need from someone older and someone whom they look up to,' said the lawyer, who handles on average about three such cases a year.
Most recently, he defended Nasir in court.
To psychiatrists and counsellors, youths are more prone to being used in 'proxy crimes' because they are less able to differentiate right from wrong.
And some youths are more vulnerable than others, like those who feel emotionally neglected by their families, or come from broken ones.
Consultant psychiatrist Adrian Wang of Gleneagles Medical Centre said: 'If you come from a more neglected or disadvantaged background, your self-esteem may suffer. When someone comes along who shows you more love and approval than anyone else has shown before...you want to do things to keep things going.'
Dr Brian Yeo, who runs his own clinic at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, said: 'It's easier to groom someone who's a bit of an outcast and lacks family support. If the patron or lover threatens to cut the relationship off, the youth will find he has no alternative choices to turn to, no close father, mother, teacher.'
The manipulator plays many roles - a sugar daddy, a figure of authority, a confidante, or even just an equal.
'The older person probes to see what the youth wants from them. Is it money, friendship, or respect? It can be any combination and they will give it,' Mr Anandan said.
Over time, the youth gets emotionally attached to the person. His self-worth is entwined to, and dependent on, what the adult thinks of him.
This opens up the opportunity for the manipulator to conduct emotional blackmail.
Mr Anandan said: 'The older person will put them on a guilt trip by recounting all those times that he had gone out on a limb for them. For example, he'd say, 'You won't be caught. I need you to help me. I was there when you needed me all those times. Now that I need your help, you don't want to help me? Doesn't our friendship count for anything?''
Teens tend to react more emotionally than rationally in these circumstances, said Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of youth services at the Singapore Children's Society.
'When they are under the influence of someone and the person is clever enough to tweak their emotions, emotions just overwhelm the youths, which cloud their judgments of right and wrong. Even if they have values, the values are pushed back.'
She cited cases of teenagers who took part in gang fights without question as they blindly followed an 'older, more devious' leader.
The blackmail may even be more complicated.
Mr Anandan believes that Ler, whom he represented, had approached another boy at first just to rouse the eventual killer.
He said: 'When the boy found out that Ler approached the first youth, his first reaction was to confront Ler and ask him, 'Why did you get him instead of me? I knew you first before you knew him!''
According to Dr Yeo, adults who groom the young for criminal acts are usually of 'above-average intelligence who know how to press the right buttons'.
'Even a big-time, fierce criminal won't be able to groom young people to play courier, steal or shoplift. He has to be quite smart, someone who knows how to talk, show he is able to understand the kid, and give little gifts along the way,' he said.
One would-be manipulator who ended up with egg on his face was aquarium shop assistant Chua Beng Hin, 45.
He was jailed for five years and caned six strokes after he paid $500 to three teens to kill his former lover in 2005. The teens had lighter punishment, including probation.
The woman was unhurt and all were caught before they laid a finger on her.
However, it turned out that the teenagers accepted the money but had never intended to attack her.
Cases of young people manipulated to murder are rare but lawyers and counsellors see all too many cases when youngsters have simply followed their elders' lead into other crimes such as rioting, robbery, drug trafficking and prostitution.
Lawyers said the courts make a clear distinction between shepherd and sheep and punishment meted out to the culprits reflects that.
For example, when national soccer player Sulaiman Hashim, 17, was bludgeoned to death near Boat Quay in 2001, those who attacked him were convicted of causing grievous hurt and jailed for five years and caned.
The mastermind, 28, who had instigated them was convicted of a more serious charge of culpable homicide. He was jailed for 10 years.
More often than not, it is the sheep who will turn the tables on their masters.
In Ler's case, it was the killer's evidence which nailed him in the end. The court found the boy to be honest and truthful.
It was not possible that he had concocted such an 'elaborate and consistent yarn' or twisted information 'to his own advantage or to the detriment of others', said the judge.
In the judge's own words, he was 'no killer'.
'In the end, he was given an ultimatum - kill, or be killed.'
