Murdered woman had been having affair with boss

SINGAPORE: Their relationship had been causing ripples in the workplace for some time. 

He was her boss and more than twice her age. He was supervising an 18-man team packaging integrated circuit chips at Agere Systems in Serangoon North. 

She was promoted twice in a year, during the time that they were becoming noticeably close to each other. 

They were inseparable and their public displays of affection grated on their colleagues. 

Liu: Was described as bubbly and had a ready smile for everyone.

Last year, he was reprimanded by the company when he was caught hugging and kissing her on the cheek while she was at her computer terminal. 

Leong Siew Chor, 50, told the management that he only kissed Liu Hong Mei, 22, because it was her birthday. 

Said her fellow operator, who is from another team: “The incident was like the final straw. The management finally questioned the other staff about their relationship. 

“But they just gave him a verbal warning.” 

It was after the complaint was lodged that cracks started appearing in the relationship. Liu appeared to have a change of heart. 

Three of their co-workers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, cited instructions from their company not to speak to the press. 

They described Liu as petite and about 1.5m tall with a porcelain complexion. 

“She was bubbly and had a ready smile for everyone. When she first came here, she was rather plump and quite a plain Jane.  

“About a year ago, she started to lose some weight and plucked her eyebrows. Recently, she also permed her hair and put on some make-up.” 

But the simple, cheerful girl became reticent after her relationship with Leong began a year ago. 

Leong had been transferred from another team and gave Liu a hard time in the first three months. 

Said her co-worker: “She complained that she was very stressed and felt very lonely. I advised her to try her best. Shortly after that, she rose very fast. She was made his assistant and did data work instead of packaging.” 

Liu did not want to speak much about her relationship with Leong, despite attempts by her colleagues to draw her out. 

But it was clear that she had become “emotionally troubled” in the last few months. 

Colleagues think she had fallen for another colleague, a 26-year-old Singaporean, who was taken away for questioning with Leong when police went to the factory on Thursday night. He was released later about 5am the next day.  

While their close relationship was an open secret at the factory, Leong’s neighbours at Block 114 Geylang Lorong 3 were stunned to hear about the possibility of another woman in his life. 

Said Francis Choy, 59, a church maintenance officer: “He and his wife were very loving. His wife would sit in front of him on the bicycle when he cycled to the market.” 

The last time Liu’s co-workers saw her was the Sunday before she was killed. The company had its annual family day at Downtown East, and Liu was there with her older sister, with whom she lives in a rental flat, and her sister’s Singaporean fiance. 

Leong was also there, with his wife and three children. 

One colleague recalled how Liu was excited at the prospect of her parents flying to Singapore in September for her sister’s wedding. 

She left about 5pm and turned up at the factory to do some overtime work about 7pm. But she had a headache close to midnight and asked to go home. 

That was the last anyone saw of her. 

“When she did not turn up for work, we thought she was sick. Leong also asked one of the operators to call her on Thursday,” she said. 

It was on Thursday morning that parts of her body washed up on the banks of Kallang River.  

Leong was charged with her murder. – The Sunday Times/ ANN