A 43-year-old woman who is on trial for the murder of her boyfriend had a stormy relationship with the man, the High Court here heard when she took the stand on Thursday.
When asked by her lawyer how she got along with the victim, Nguyen Ngoc Giau, 43, said through a Vietnamese interpreter: “Every day go drink. Drink, then quarrel.”
Twice, the quarrels ended with her going to the hospital, she said. On one occasion, both were arrested for fighting at the void deck.
Nguyen is accused of fatally stabbing Cho Wang Keung, 51, at the fifth-floor common corridor of Block 562 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 at about 1am on July 15, 2021.
Cho was pronounced dead at about 7.15am that day in hospital.
Nguyen, a Singapore permanent resident from Vietnam, also suffered knife wounds during the incident.
If convicted of the murder charge, she faces life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Nguyen, who is currently married to a Singaporean man with whom she has two children, said she is estranged from her husband and children.
She testified she was admitted to the Institute of Mental Health for attempting to hang herself because she was stressed over the marriage.
She said she was introduced to Cho, whom she knew as Peter, by a mutual friend in 2020.
She rented a room in his three-room flat to “stay for a few months” during the Covid-19 pandemic, she told the court.
Nguyen, who ran a hair salon, said Cho’s wife was jealous of her, but his daughter liked her and encouraged them to have a relationship.
She said she and Cho, a jewellery assembler, would quarrel for days after drinking sessions.
A couple of days before the incident, both Nguyen and Cho were drinking and quarrelling after Nguyen became unhappy with one of Cho’s female friends.
She testified that she had locked Cho out of their bedroom and she continued to drink till the next day when she left the room to get more beer from a minimart.
It was then that she confronted Cho in the apartment’s corridor.
She testified she could not remember doing what she did.
“I don’t remember anything. I was drunk already,” she told the court.
The trial continues on April 22. — The Straits Times/ANN
