Delivering his decision of seven years’ jail, Justice Pang Khang Chau said that it was relevant to note that the killing was not due to animosity, jealousy or any kind of malice towards the victim. ― TODAY file picSINGAPORE, Oct 26 — Thinking that the company he was running wasn’t doing well and that his own suicide over it might bring shame to his pregnant wife, David Brian Chow Kwok-Hun decided to kill his sleeping spouse, delivering 15 stab wounds to her head, neck and torso.
In December 2021, Chow requested for the company’s half-year financial report from an accounting staff and found the numbers to be unusually poor.Believing that the business will fail, Chow started to lose sleep due to worry and stress over the company’s finances, often getting only one to two hours’ of sleep a day.
However, he feared that his wife might suffer shame from having a spouse who committed suicide and decided to kill her before taking his own life, said DPP Jiang. She then collapsed on the floor and became motionless, having sustained a total of 15 stab wounds to the head, neck and torso. It was later discovered, after the incident, that the accounting staff had made an error in the report. The poor numbers presented to Chow were not accurate and the business was not doing as badly as Chow had thought.The prosecution sought a sentence of between nine and 12 years’ jail, with DPP Jiang arguing that Chow did not lack any impulse control and demonstrated some level of control over his thought process.