On 4 Sept 1984, 30-year-old Judy Quek was killed in the ladies’ changing room of Westpeak condominium after a swim with her husband, nephews and niece.
She was stabbed by a man named Neo Man Lee, who had snuck into the property.
The killer was arrested three weeks after the attack and charged with murder.
However, his sentence was eventually reduced to life imprisonment after it was found that he was suffering from schizophrenia.
On the night of the attack, Neo had experienced a relapse and Mrs Quek happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That night, Mrs Quek, a structural engineer, along with her husband, nephews, and niece, went swimming at the pool of the 26-storey Westpeak condominium where she lived.
At about 9pm, she left the pool and went to the ladies’ changing room.
It was there that Neo, who was not a resident of the condominium, ambushed her with a knife.
Source: NewspaperSG
Neo then stabbed Mrs Quek in the neck and left upper chest with the weapon.
It was later found that she had sustained three stab wounds and 12 slash wounds.
The horrific attack occurred just four months after the victim and her husband moved into the condominium.
A witness, who heard Mrs Quek’s agonised screams, reported seeing a nude male running out of the room.
At that point, he decided to hit the man with the squash racket in his hand.
Source: NewspaperSG
However, Neo counterattacked, slashing him in the arm and chin, before running off with his knife and a colourful shirt.
Even after another resident stepped in to chase him, Neo managed to escape.
He scrambled over a perimeter fence, leaving the shirt behind.
Neo reportedly ran about 120 metres to a nearby canteen at a construction site, where he stole clothes.
Source: NewspaperSG
Clad in a green T-shirt and grey trousers, the killer fled on a bicycle towards West Coast Road before disappearing.
The suspect’s actions were witnessed by two residents who happened to be looking out their windows at the time.
Police from the Queenstown Station and CID responded to the scene, along with police tracker dogs and Police Task Force troopers.
They retrieved a pair of men’s blue sports shorts, a blue floral shirt, and rubber sandals inside a toilet in the women’s changing room.
Source: NewspaperSG
A knife was also found on the grass verge near the worksite’s canteen.
The officers then checked and interviewed all 80 workers at the site. The search ended at 3am that day.
Another search was conducted at noon but was called off two hours later.
A spokesperson of the condominium’s management committee would later reveal that the man had a reputation of exposing himself to women around the neighbourhood.
The suspect had also been spotted multiple times at the spectator stand of Clementi Sports Complex across the road.
The incident caused some residents to question the safety and security of the private property.
Westpeak condominium was reported to have been guarded 24/7 by security guards.
Source: NewspaperSG
Each time, two guards would be deployed at the property: one at the main gate and the other at the reception hall on the ground floor of the apartment block.
However, neither of them heard Mrs Quek’s screams, nor did they spot any intruder in the compound.
Many residents also shared that they had seen people taking shortcuts through the condominium grounds from the nearby public housing flats to the sports complex.
They added that the back gate was often left open despite having a lock.
The security agency, however, confirmed its staff had been strictly instructed to check people at the main gate and outsiders entering the building.
On 27 Sept 1984, 23 days after the attack on Mrs Quek, the authorities finally arrested Neo at an HDB flat on West Coast Road, near where Mrs Quek was killed.
He was then charged with murder on 29 Sept 1984. The case was later sent to the High Court.
It was heard in court that Neo had stripped off his clothes while peeping at his victim showering.
He then attacked her when she refused his attempts to molest her.
Source: Wikimedia
In court, the accused’s father also claimed that his son could not have committed the crime, as he was at home watching television on the night of the killing.
Neo had earlier confessed to the murder of Mrs Quek but retracted his statement later.
Asked how he could describe the circumstances of the killing to the police, he said his father had read reports in the newspapers and told him about the news.
However, Neo would eventually be convicted for his crime — even though he had his reduced to one of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The court learned that Neo had been suffering from schizophrenia since he was 15.
To protect the public and himself from danger, the judge gave him “detention as long as it is permissible by law… because there you will get proper care and treatment”.
Neo then faced a life sentence on in May 1989.
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Featured image adapted from NewspaperSG and NewspaperSG.