Amos Atlantis

The teenage girl had been asleep on the upper deck of her double-decker bed for about two hours.

In deep slumber, Eunice Chew Li Xin, 14, would have been oblivious to the horrible fate that her mother had planned for her.

As she slept, her mother, Goh Hai Eng, 52, placed a stool next to the bed and climbed on it to reach the upper deck.

In both her hands was a fruit knife, which she plunged into her daughter’s chest.

The sudden attack woke up Eunice, who opened her eyes to see the knife stuck in her chest. It had penetrated her heart.

Goh hugged her dying daughter, then pulled the knife out and flung it aside.

As Eunice screamed in pain, Goh stepped down, went to the fridge and took out a glass containing a mixture of medicine and an alcoholic soft drink and drank the concoction.

Goh sat on the lower deck of the bed, and when she heard her daughter take her last breath, she stood up and touched Eunice’s face.

The killing took place in their one-room flat on the fifth storey of Block 852, Woodlands Street 83, in the early hours of 19 Mar.

Yesterday, Goh pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter.

Downward spiral

It was about a year ago that Goh spiralled into depression, resulting in her daughter’s tragic death at her own hands.

The unemployed woman had been undergoing treatment at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for bipolar disorder since 1999.

But she stopped taking her medication and failed to go for her regular appointments in October 2008.

The court was not told why.

Early last year, Goh began to feel depressed over her divorce and the sale of her matrimonial flat in Jurong West.

She had divorced her husband – her second and Eunice’s father – in 2007 after an eight-year marriage. Her ex-husband was ordered to pay her $300 in monthly maintenance but he
defaulted on the payments and could not be found.

Constantly worried about money, Goh felt that she and Eunice were a burden to her elder daughter, Ms Ho Lee Hong, 31.

She told Ms Ho, who is from her first marriage which lasted five years, and her elder sister, Ms Goh Hai Hong, that she would kill Eunice and then take her own life.

Goh even asked Eunice how she would like to die.

Worried that her mother’s condition had worsened, Ms Ho called the IMH on 11 Mar to check on her next appointment.

When told that Goh had missed her appointment the day before, she fixed another appointment for the following week and took leave so she could accompany her motherthere.

On 18 Mar, the day of the appointment, Goh refused to go to IMH despite Ms Ho’s persuasion. She insisted she would be fine after taking her medicine.

That afternoon, Goh took three tablets of her prescribed medication and tried to sleep, but couldn’t.

At 7pm, she put 20 tablets in a glass of water and left it on a table. She then left the flat, with thoughts of committing suicide that night swirling in her head.

She withdrew $1,400 from an ATM and bought a pack of cigarettes.

Bought knife

When she walked past a hardware store, she decided to go in.

She saw knives displayed on the rack and bought a fruit knife for $3. After having dinner at a nearby coffee shop, she bought a can of stout and a can of alcoholic soft drink from a
supermarket.

Back home, she put the knife in a kitchen drawer, added the alcoholic soft drink to the glass containing her medicine and went to the living room to watch television.

She then called Ms Goh and said she was not in a good mood. If she died, her sister could take the TV rack and a wooden rack from her flat, she added.

At around 11pm, Eunice, a secondary three student at Pei Cai Secondary, returned home. While the girl showered, Goh drank the can of stout and smoked a cigarette.

When Eunice came out of the bathroom, she complained that the cigarette smoke was smelly and asked her mother to smoke outside the flat. Goh ignored her.

The teenager went to bed at around midnight.

Two hours later, Goh started thinking about her elder daughter and the latter’s baby daughter, then 3 months old, whom she was helping to look after.

Goh grew increasingly worried, as she moped about her age and frailty. She feared that if she fainted and fell while carrying the baby, the latter would die.

She thought about killing herself and Eunice, as she thought that no one would take care of her daughter when she was gone.

She remembered the knife she had bought, took it from the kitchen and carried out her horrific deed. Then she drank the concoction. It was not mentioned whether she was treated for drug overdose.

Shortly afterwards, Goh called her elder daughter and elder sister and told them what she had done.

Ms Ho called the police who turned up at the flat at about 3am. Goh, who was waiting in the flat, let them in.

Eunice, who was found lying face-up, was pronounced dead at 3.06am. Goh was arrested on the spot.

The autopsy report indicated that Eunice died of “acute haemorrhage due to a stab wound of the heart through the chest”.

Goh was suffering from a severe depressive episode of bipolar disorder at the time of the offence, psychiatrist Dr Gwee Kok Peng said in his report.

Dr Gwee wrote that while she was not of unsound mind at the time as she was still aware of the nature and quality of her act, the mental illness did significantly impair her judgment.

Yesterday, Goh sat in the dock, shoulders hunched, head bowed low, as the interpreter read the statement of facts in Mandarin.

No emotion

Aside from a frown that lined her already creased face, the bespectacled woman with grey streaks in her hair showed no emotion during the hearing.

But Goh revealed a different side to her after the court adjourned.

When her granddaughter, now a year old, was carried into court, she broke into a wide grin.

Ms Ho pointed Goh out to the child and kept prompting her to acknowledge her grandma.

Metres away and separated by glass panels, Goh blew kisses at the little girl as a group of about 20 relatives watched from the public gallery.

The case has been adjourned to a date yet to be fixed.

For manslaughter, she can be jailed up to 20 years or for life