On 31 December 2001, while volunteering at an end-of-year event, 56-year-old Quek Loo Ming (Chinese: 郭禄明; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Koeh Lo̍k-bêng; pinyin: Guō Lùmíng), a retired laboratory officer, spiked a bottle of water with methomyl and offered it to the chairperson of a resident's committee in Bukit Timah, Singapore, hoping that the chairperson, who Quek considered had mistreated him, would drink it and suffer from diarrhoea. However, the chairperson did not drink it; three other volunteers of the event drank it and had to be hospitalized. One of the three victims, 62-year-old Fong Oi Lin, died of poisoning on 3 January 2002; the other two – 66-year-old Richard Ho Sin Shong and 38-year-old Wong Ah Kim – were in critical condition, but recovered and survived. Quek was later arrested and charged with murdering Fong and causing grievous hurt to Wong and Ho; the charge of murder in Quek's case was downgraded to manslaughter. Quek was found guilty and sentenced to nine years of imprisonment for manslaughter and inflicting grievous injury. Upon the prosecution's appeal, Quek's sentence was increased to 15 years' imprisonment.
Background Born in 1945, Quek Loo Ming went to the University of Singapore (now the National University of Singapore) and attained a Bachelor of Science degree after his graduation. Some time after completing his university degree and during his adulthood years, Quek worked as a laboratory officer and forensic scientist at the Toxicology Laboratory of the Department of Scientific Services (DSS), before its merger with Department of Forensic Medicine (DFM) to form the Institute of Forensic Science (IFS). Quek worked for 12 years at the IFS before he retired in June 2000 upon reaching 55 years of age. He went on to work as a volunteer member of a resident's committee at Bukit Timah. Other sources reported that Quek also worked as an acupuncturist. He was known to many as a pleasant and polite man who diligently helped out in volunteering activities. During his adulthood years, Quek was married with at least one daughter.
Murder of Fong Oi Lin
On 31 December 2001, Quek Loo Ming was one of the volunteers at an end-of-year event organized by the resident's committee. According to Quek, he was unhappy with the committee's 49-year-old chairperson Doreen Lum (Chinese: 林丽卿; Jyutping: Lam4 Lai6 Hing1; pinyin: Lín Lìqìng). Quek considered that Lum mistreated him, treating him like an "errand boy" and never giving him credit for his volunteering work. That afternoon Lum ordered Quek to buy 20 packets of chicken rice for the volunteers; Quek did so, but was aggrieved by being given the task at extremely short notice; for that, together with his previous issues with Lum, Quek decided to seek revenge and teach Lum a lesson. According to Quek's testimony to his lawyers and police, he had handled the case of a Filipino maid's death while he was still a laboratory officer at DSS; she had committed suicide by drinking a large dose of methomyl mixed into her coffee. Methomyl is a strong poison used for pesticides, and a large dose could kill, while a smaller dose will affect the nervous system and cause muscular paralysis. Quek, who had obtained the poison from his workplace some time before his retirement, returned home and filled an empty mineral water bottle with water and a tablespoon of powdered methomyl. He offered the contaminated water to Lum, hoping it would give her diarrhoea; however, Lum did not drink it. Three other people present at the event drank the contaminated water while eating satays and other foods at the event; they fell gravely ill and became unconscious, and were rushed to the National University Hospital for treatment, where they remained in critical condition. On 3 January 2002, one of them, 62-year-old Fong Oi Lin (Chinese: 冯爱莲; Jyutping: Fung4 Oi3 Lin4; pinyin: Féng Aìlián; 1940 – 3 January 2002), a tea lady and a volunteer at the event, died from the poison. The other two people, 66-year-old retired accountant and vice-president of the resident's committee Richard Ho Sin Shong (何常胜 Hé Chángshèng) and 38-year-old electrician Wong Ah Kim (黄亚金; Vòng A-kîm; Huáng Yájīn), spent weeks at the hospital recovering, and survived. The contaminated water was disposed of by Fong before she fell ill because she found it smelly, so nobody else drank any. Fong was survived by her husband, a 34-year-old daughter, and two sons.
Arrest and charges On 10 January 2002, a week after Fong Oi Lin died, 56-year-old Quek Loo Ming was arrested at his Clementi flat after the police investigators found evidence linking Quek to the poisoning. It was initially thought by police that the satays eaten by the three victims had been poisoned, before it was determined that Quek had poisoned the bottle of water. Quek expressed remorse for the death of Fong Oi Lin, and told police that he meant no harm to Fong, Richard Ho, or Wong Ah Kim, but only wanted to go after Doreen Lum for how she treated him. Lum denied in a press interview that she had any personal issues with Quek. The arrest of Quek was shocking to Fong's family, as Quek had attended her funeral and taken part in the preparations for her wake. On 11 January 2002, the day after his arrest, Quek was charged with Fong's murder by methomyl. Under Singapore law conviction for murder is punishable by death. On 18 January 2002, Quek returned to court to be charged with two further counts, of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means for injuring Wong and Ho.
Trial of Quek Loo Ming
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