Lee Kim Lai - The Murders

The Murders

At about 01:30 hours on 25 April 1978, the three men left the coffee shop and Ching Boon went home to change and collect the traveling bag. Dressed in a red T-shirt, he tucked the icepick into his dark blue pants. Chin Hock was dressed in a white long sleeved top and dark blue pants, while Hwee Kuan was in beige long sleeve top and blue jeans. The three men waited along Kallang Bahru near Block 66 for a taxi. Soon, a Yellow Top taxi stopped for them, driven by Chew Theng Hin, aged 60. Ching Boon got into the front seat and instructed the driver to go to the PRU Base. Hwee Kuan sat behind the driver, and Chin Hock behind Ching Boon. The taxi proceeded via Bendemeer Road, Whompoa East, Serangoon Road and Upper Aljunied Road. Chew was instructed to stop the taxi near the rear gate of the PRU base at a dark and secluded stretch of the road.

Suddenly, Hwee Kuan restrained Chew from behind and placed a knife to his neck. Ching Boon stuffed a cloth into his mouth and warned him not to make any noise while brandishing the icepick. He tied the driver with the nylon ropes and ordered him out of the taxi, when Chew suddenly attempted to break free from the aggressors. He was quickly subdued by Ching Boon and Chin Hock while Hwee Kuan stabbed Chew in the stomach. Ching Boon and Hwee Kuan pulled the driver out of the taxi and dumped him in a roadside drain as Chin Hock got into the driver's seat and prepared to move off. Just then, they spotted Chew attempting to climb out of the drain. Ching Boon and Hwee Kuan stabbed the man in the neck with the icepick and knife respectively causing Chew to fall back into the drain. When they returned to the car, Chew was spotted trying to climb out once again, inviting another round of fatal stabbings. Chin Hock drove the taxi towards the main gate of the PRU base.

The second oldest child in a family of five siblings, Lee Kim Lai, aged 18, was attached to the Police Reserve Unit 1 for his national service liability at Mount Vernon. In the early morning of 25 April 1978, Kim Lai, who was on sentry duty for the first time, took over the hourly sentry duty from fellow officer Koh Kah Kway at 02:00 hours. He was issued with his service revolver, a .38 Webley and Scott, and ten rounds of ammunition, five of which were already loaded in the revolver. Soon after, Kim Lai spotted a Yellow Top taxi approaching the gate. The front seat passenger, Ching Boon, alighted from the taxi with the icepick hidden in his waist and approached the sentry, flashing his NS Police Warrant. He lied to Kim Lai that he and Hwee Kuan were from the PRU Base, and asked his help to carry Hwee Kuan from the backseat of the taxi, where he was pretending to be heavily drunk. Not sensing anything amiss, Kim Lai left his post and followed Ching Boon to the taxi.

Once Ching Boon opened the rear back door of the taxi, he allowed Kim Lai to look into the taxi first, where Hwee Kuan quickly grabbed the surprised policeman and pulled him into the rear seat. Ching Boon helped to push the struggling policeman in, slammed the door shut and quickly returned to his front seat. En route, he noticed what appeared to be figures looking at his direction from the police quarters, and hurriedly asked Chin Hock to leave. As the taxi sped away along Upper Aljunied Road, Hwee Kuan stabbed the knife into the policeman's neck and removed his service revolver which was handed over to Ching Boon. As Hwee Kuan struggled to remove the blade from the cop's neck where it had become stuck, Ching Boon grabbed the second knife and stabbed the still struggling policeman several more times in the neck and upper body from the front seat, in the midst of which he accidentally cut Hwee Kuan's index finger. By the time Kim Lai's body had stopped moving, his blood had spilled all over the back seat and onto Hwee Kuan's clothes.

Chin Hock was instructed to stop the taxi five minutes later at Kallang Bahru, where Ching Boon rummaged the dead policeman's uniform and retrieved all ten rounds of ammunition. Ching Boon collected the knife from Hwee Kuan, and instructed him to hide in the bushes while he and Chin Hock left the scene to collect clean clothing from Ching Boon's home. They returned ten minutes later, and Chin Hock dumped the bloodied clothing into a plastic bag containing clean clothing he changed into. The three men proceeded to leave, before being stopped by a man, who turned out to be a detective, Constable Siew Man Seng.