SINGAPORE - A 55-year-old man whose wife confessed that she had an affair with a colleague after he confronted her over romantic text messages on her phone, told her lover to end the relationsip or he will beat him up, the High Court heard on Friday.
When Chia Kee Chen's wife got a Chinese New Year greeting message on WhatsApp from her former lover, he allegedly began stalking the colleague, Mr Dexmon Chua Yizhi, 37.
Chia also roped in two people - longtime friend Chua Leong Aik and business partner Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko - to allegedly exact revenge on Mr Chua, who was electrocuted and eventually killed.
Chia has been charged with murdering Mr Chua in December 2013 and his trial has been scheduled to start in October.
But details about the crime emerged on Friday when his accomplice Chua was sentenced to five years' jail after pleading guilty to abduction and causing grievous hurt by dangerous means.
Chua, 66, a town council cleaning supervisor, admitted that late at night on Dec 28, 2013, the trio carried out their plan to abduct and beat up Mr Chua to "teach him a lesson".
They assaulted him after he parked his car at a multi-storey carpark near his Choa Chu Kang flat and pushed him into the back of a borrowed van. They then used electrodes to electrocute him and tied him up.
As Chua drove the van to Lim Chu Kang as instructed by Chia, the other two men continued beating the victim up in the back of the van, the court heard.
Chua said he "could not take it anymore" and got out from the van near Lim Chu Kang and took a bus home.
The other two men drove the van to a Singapore Armed Forces live firing area and dumped the victim's lifeless body there. Febri and Chia's family left Singapore shortly after.
When he returned two days later, Chia was arrested. He later led police to the area where he had dumped the victim's body.
On Friday, Chua's lawyer, Mr James Ow Yong, asked for four years' jail, saying that his client played a minimal role.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Wen Hsien asked for five years, arguing that Chua must have known that the plan would involve violence and serious harm to the victim.
Febri is still at large.
