Stirling Road murder
2007 high-profile spousal murder case in Singapore
On 1 July 2007, 38-year-old odd-job worker Tharema Vejayan Govindasamy murdered his 32-year-old ex-wife Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz by flinging her off the 13th floor of a HDB block in Stirling Road, Queenstown, after they got into an argument which eventually escalated into an assault before Smaelmeeral was thrown to her death. Tharema, who was charged with murder, claimed that his in-laws had used black magic to break up his marriage out of religious differences and also insisted that his ex-wife had fallen to her death as a suicide, but the High Court found Tharema guilty of murdering Smaelmeeral and hence, he was sentenced to hang on 25 May 2009.
Murder of Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz
Investigations
On 1 July 2007, 61-year-old Goh Chin Hock, a SBS Transit bus driver, was waiting at a bus-stop in front of a HDB block along Stirling Road, Queenstown, when he heard a loud "thud" sound and turned around, witnessing the body of a young woman lying dead at the void deck of that same HDB block. Another witness, Hamzah Rasip, also witnessed the body and called the police.
The victim was identified as 32-year-old Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz, a production operator and mother of two children. Dr Gilbert Lau, the forensic pathologist who examined the victim's body, found that Smaelmeeral died as a result of multiple injuries (including skull fractures) caused by a fall. A broken tooth was also found at the bus stop in front of the HDB block where Smaelmeeral fell to her death, where the police deduced could be the original crime scene. Witnesses also stated that Smaelmeeral was arguing with a man, and heard some screams and a "thud" sound, and the lift of the block where Smaelmeeral died was found with many bloodstains, and more of them were discovered nearby the parapet of the 13th floor, which showed that Smaelmeeral may have been assaulted in the lift before she fell to her death from the 13th floor. Two bus drivers also told police that they saw a man walking away from the crime scene after he reached the ground floor and looked at the body.
The police investigations eventually led to the police identifying one possible suspect, whom they believed to be 38-year-old Tharema Vejayan Govindasamy, who was Smaelmeeral's former husband, and they also publicly listed him on the wanted list, seeking crucial information to arrest him.
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