Yang Jie

The Yishun triple murders case was a mass stabbing incident of three violent murders of three women in a rented flat in Yishun, Singapore in 2008. The perpetrator, Wang Zhijian, was the boyfriend of one of the two adult women living in the flat, and Wang, together with the victims, were from mainland China. Wang was alleged to have murdered both his girlfriend and her child, and tried to kill the...

The Yishun triple murders case was a mass stabbing incident of three violent murders of three women in a rented flat in Yishun, Singapore in 2008. The perpetrator, Wang Zhijian, was the boyfriend of one of the two adult women living in the flat, and Wang, together with the victims, were from mainland China. Wang was alleged to have murdered both his girlfriend and her child, and tried to kill the other two tenants – also a mother-daughter pair – who lived in the next room. The daughter survived the attack but her mother was killed. Wang faced three capital charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder (the attempted murder charge was stood down by the prosecution). He was convicted of one murder charge and two reduced culpable homicide charges and sentenced to death by the High Court of Singapore. Wang appealed against his death sentence but the Court of Appeal of Singapore dismissed Wang's appeal and convicted him of two more charges of murder after the simultaneous hearing of the prosecution's appeal against Wang's two culpable homicide charges. Murders Discovery and arrest On 19 September 2008, at around 12.50 am, police received a report that a woman had fallen from one of the flats and her body was found lying motionless on the ground floor nearby the void deck of a HDB block in Yishun. A unit from Ang Mo Kio Police Division arrived at the scene to investigate the fall. A resident of the area told police that on the night itself when the woman's body was found, he heard voices of a few women, which look like an argument of sorts. At around midnight, the man heard the sound of furniture being thrown, and a man shouting, as though he was chopping something. He tried to look into one of the units where the sounds came from but the lights were off. The women's cries slowly diminished, until he heard a 'thud' accompanied with a scream, which came from the woman who fell to her death. Another witness stated that he saw some people driving away from the void deck, and he was not sure if these men were related to the death of the woman. A search by the police in the HDB block led to a discovery of blood stains on the door of a flat on the sixth floor. The police knocked the door but a male occupant refused to open the door. The Singapore Civil Defence Force was called in to force an entry into the flat. On entering the unit, the police found the male occupant and three women, one adult and two teenagers, who were slashed and stabbed in a kitchen toilet and one of the bedrooms. One of the teenagers, who was found in the toilet, was found to be alive when the police discovered her and was immediately taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for treatment. The other two women were found dead inside the bedroom, being stabbed a total of 98 times. The male suspect, whose fingers were injured, was also arrested by the police; the man did not resist capture. The flat was also being searched by police to collect evidence. The suspect and his victims were said to be from Mainland China. Neighbours were shocked to hear about the alleged murders committed by the suspect, who they said was the boyfriend of one of the tenants. Residents told newspapers and police that throughout the past two weeks before the murders, there had been sounds of agitated arguments between the suspect and his girlfriend coming from the unit a few times each week, and the night before the crimes, the couple were also arguing. The case was a shock to the nation and was regarded as the worst murder case ever committed in Singapore for at least the last 15 years. Investigations and charges The police investigations, now led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jason Lim, had found that there were four possible murder weapons stained with the blood of the victims from the flat, which consisted of a serrated knife, a chopper, a knife and a metal spatula. The three deceased victims were identified as a 41-year-old peidu mama called Zhang Meng, Zhang's 17-year-old daughter Feng Jianyu and Zhang's 36-year-old flatmate and fellow peidu mama Yang Jie (who fell to her death). The survivor was Yang Jie's 15-year-old daughter, who was reportedly also Feng's classmate from the same school. The survivor, being a minor below 16 years old, was not named in the media in accordance to Singapore law and the girl's published photographs were censored to not publicly reveal her true facial appearance, although her face was revealed in an Evangel Family Church page. A day after his arrest, the suspect, Zhang Meng's 42-year-old boyfriend Wang Zhijian, was charged with murder for the death of Zhang Meng. Wang potentially faces the mandatory death sentence if he was found guilty of murder under the laws of Singapore. Later, on 4 October 2008, Wang was brought back to court again, where the prosecution additionally charged him with two more counts of murder for the deaths of Yang and Feng, and one count of attempted murder for attacking Yang's daughter. The attempted murder charge for the grievous attack conducted on Li was later stood down and the prosecution proceeded with the triple murder charges against Wang for the murders of Zhang, Feng and Yang. Many relatives of the victims, including Zhang's sister and brother-in-law and Yang's elder sister and mother, came all the way from China to identify their bodies for funeral preparations after the completion of the forensic pathologist's autopsies of the three dead women. Zhang's family, who arranged for the cremation of Zhang and Feng's corpses on 26 September 2008, reportedly stated that it was no longer important to know what will be the sentence the courts could give to the alleged killer, given that the lives are already lost and cannot be revived. Yang's daughter was reportedly stable at the time of a news report dated 24 September 2008. Another report also revealed that the teenage girl's school's vice principal and three of the girl's classmates also went to visit the girl under police supervision to help her cope with the difficult times. It was also confirmed that the survivor will come to court to testify once the trial of Wang started. Response of the Chinese Embassy in Singapore Upon receiving news of the arrest of Wang and the three alleged murders of Chinese women occurring in Yishun, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore became concerned and urged the local authorities to investigate in the case as quickly as possible to make sure that justice was served and the killer be severely punished. They also sent representatives to Tan Tock Seng Hospital to meet up with the surviving teenager and her loved ones to help them cope with their loss while getting updates on the situation. Reactions of the public in Singapore The murders of the three Chinese nationals in Yishun, which also involved the deaths of two study mamas (a local term for mothers who accompany their children who are studying overseas), had also caused ripples among the online Chinese community and became one of the most frequently discussed topics in the online Chinese forums. Many of the Chinese nationals, particularly study mamas, were shocked over the case and talked about it frequently among themselves. The netizens from China expressed their sadness over the triple deaths and called for all Chinese nationals in Singapore to help the sole survivor of the murders. The case also prompted some study mamas to speak up about their difficult lives in Singapore and their concern over how the case will impact on their lives. Prior to the murders, it was known that during their children's education in Singapore, study mamas spent their time in Singapore on long social visit passes and could not apply for a work permit during their first year in Singapore, which made their lives much harder and it was made worse by the discrimination these women faced for alleged or perceived involvement in affairs with married men and prostitution, and the restriction on their avenues for employment (they are not allowed to work in coffee shops, bars and massage spas). One of these study mamas, a 45-year-old Madam Chen, stated that as a cleaner who helped cleaning other people's homes in Singapore, she originally worked eight jobs a week before the murders, and these dropped to five after the murders occurred, due to increased fear and mistrust towards Chinese nationals as a result of the trouble these people got into. Madam Chen, who was a native of Tianjin and had a teenage son studying in Singapore since 2005, stated that the case will make it worse for her tough life in Singapore, given that she was already struggling to earn a living for both herself and her son, then aged 16 at the time of the murders. Another study mama, Madam Hu Xiu Ling, aged 36, stated that she was saddened whenever there were any negative reports about Chinese study mamas in Singapore. She expressed that she hoped the government of Singapore would not tighten the rules imposed on the study mamas in light of the Yishun murders, and did not want to have more difficulty in finding jobs in Singapore. Madam Hu stated that she, as well as all other study mamas, only wanted their children to have a good education in Singapore and they merely craved for a simple life in the country. Background The relationship between Wang Zhijian and Zhang Meng Born in 1966, Wang Zhijian (Chinese: 王志健; Pinyin: wáng zhìjiàn) came from Tianjin, China. He grew up together with at least one brother named Zhijie (his son's paternal uncle) in his family and later worked at a port as a supervisor. Wang went on to marry an unnamed woman, with whom he fathered a son. The marriage, however, did not work out and eventually, in 2004, Wang divorced his wife due to "incompatible differences", and the woman subsequently took custody of their son. Meanwhile, in 1996, when he went to a brokerage firm to trade in stocks, he first met one of the Yishun murder victims Zhang Meng. Zhang Meng (Chinese: 张孟; Pinyin: zhāng mèng), a university graduate and shipping company employee, was born on 13 November 1966. Zhang was also a native of Tianjin, China who was then married to policeman Feng Jinqiang when she first met Wang in 1996. Zhang, who gave birth to her daughter Feng Jianyu (Chinese: 冯建宇; Pinyin: féng jiànyǚ) on 23 August 1991 five years before, barely had any contact with Wang, who was introduced to her by Wang's colleague despite that they came from the same province. It was not until 2005, a year after Wang's divorce, when Zhang, in a surprising twist of events, contacted Wang and met up with him a second time in a coffee house on her request. During their meeting, Wang openly let out his depressed feelings about his divorce and former spouse. After this fateful meeting, both Wang and Zhang met each other for a date once a week, a routine that would increase to twice a week. The couple later had their first sexual encounter in March 2006. In June 2006, for unknown reasons, Zhang confessed to Wang that she was actually a married mother. Wang had initially contemplated breaking up with her, and even suspected that she had other lovers, but Zhang told him that she had fallen for him the first time they met and wanted to be together with him for life. As a way to prove her feelings for him, Zhang used her blood to write the words in Chinese, "I love Wang Zhi" before Wang himself continued writing, "...jian, I want to marry him". Wang even went on to write in his blood that he will love Zhang until the day he die to express his feelings for Zhang, who continued the illicit relationship with the man. Wang had even tattooed Zhang's face onto his body to express the validity of his feelings for the woman. In November 2006, Zhang's husband Feng Jinqiang discovered the affair and called Wang to meet up with him. Upon Wang's arrival, Feng asked his wife to choose between himself and Wang, and Zhang picked the latter. Zhang's family, having heard about the affair also, began to harass Wa