Mimi Wong

In July 2015, more than 45 years after the murder of Ayako Watanabe, Singapore's national daily newspaper The Straits Times published a e-book titled Guilty As Charged: 25 Crimes That Have Shaken Singapore Since 1965, which included the case of Mimi Wong as one of the top 25 crimes that shocked the nation since its independence in 1965. The book was borne out of collaboration between the Singapore Police Force and the newspaper itself. The e-book was edited by ST News Associate editor Abdul Hafiz bin Abdul Samad. The paperback edition of the book was published and first hit bookshelves in June 2017. The paperback edition first entered the ST bestseller list on 8 August 2017, a month after publication.

Singaporean crime show Crimes and Tribulations, a 1997 Chinese-language crime show, was the first television series to re-enact the case of Mimi Wong, and the re-enactment aired as the fourth episode of the show in 1997. Another crime documentary series True Files re-enacted the case of Mimi Wong, and the re-enactment first aired as the second episode of the show's first season on 30 April 2002. The episode is currently viewable via meWATCH (previously named Toggle) since 5 February 2016. Wong was portrayed by Singaporean actress Eve Ooi, while her husband was portrayed by Singaporean actor Tommy Tan. The case was also re-enacted in crime show Whispers of the Dead, which also re-enact the notable cases solved by forensic pathologist Chao Tzee Cheng; the episode was aired in 2014 as the second episode of the show's first season. In this re-enactment, the identities of the people involved were changed to protect their identities. For example, Wong was renamed as Suzie Tay, while Sim was renamed as Lau Teck Seng, and the victim Ayako Watanabe was renamed as Aika Nakamura in this re-enactment.

Another example included the 1999 murder of retired inspector T. Maniam, which was committed by the retired police officer's wife, Julaiha Begum, who plotted with three to four men to murder her husband in order to get full ownership of the family house at Phoenix Garden. Julaiha and two of the killers Chandran Rajagopal and Loganatha Venkatesan were executed in 2001, while the fourth fled Singapore till today and the fifth declining to help do the killing.

Another woman to be hanged in Singapore's gallows was Gerardine Andrew, who conspired with her two male friends Mansoor Abdullah and Nazar Mohamed Kassim and another woman called Kamala Rani Balakrishnan to rob and assault her landlady Sivapackiam Veerappan Rengasamy. Sivapackiam was unexpectedly stabbed to death by Nazar during the course of robbery and assault. Given that she masterminded the robbery and was aware that the men were armed with dangerous weapons, Gerardine was sentenced to death with the men for her landlady's murder, and they were all hanged in 1999. Kamala, who played the most minor role out of the four, was instead jailed for conspiracy to rob and kill the landlady.

Another case was the Lim Lee Tin murder case in 1989. Lim's gambling partner and 29-year-old married housewife Chin Seow Noi, Chin's 27-year-old younger brother Chin Yau Kim and the Chin siblings' 31-year-old friend Ng Kim Heng conspired to kill Lim as Lim repeatedly harassed Chin Seow Noi for money. The three killers were sentenced to death for murder and executed on 31 March 1995.

In another case, Filipino domestic maid Flor Contemplacion was charged and later executed in March 1995 for killing her friend Delia Maga and four-year-old Nicholas Huang, the son of her friend's employer. The controversial execution of Contemplacion despite her alleged innocence and mental disability caused deterioration in the diplomatic ties between Singapore and the Philippines within the next few years.

In addition, Mimi Wong herself would not be the only woman to be sentenced to death for murder by the state in Singapore's legal history. One notable example was the 1981 Adrian Lim murders, where two women, Catherine Tan Mui Choo and Hoe Kah Hong, who helped a self-styled medium Adrian Lim to murder two children, were sentenced to death and executed in the same gallows as Lim for murder.

Wong Weng Siu (黄婉秀 huáng wǎnxìu; c. 1939 – 27 July 1973), more commonly known as Mimi Wong, was a Singaporean bar hostess who became the first woman to be sentenced to death for murder in Singapore since its independence. Wong was alleged to have murdered Ayako Watanabe, the wife of her Japanese lover Hiroshi Watanabe, on 6 January 1970. Wong was not alone in this crime; her former husband and sweeper Sim Woh Kum had also helped Wong to restrain the victim while Wong repeatedly stabbed the woman to death.

The act was witnessed by Watanabe's eldest daughter Chieko (then aged 9), who testified against the couple in their 26-day trial. Wong's defence of diminished responsibility was rejected by the High Court, which found both herself and Sim guilty of Watanabe's murder and sentenced them to death, which also made them the first couple to be subjected to capital punishment in Singapore since its independence in 1965. Both were executed on 27 July 1973.

However, on the advice of the Cabinet, President Benjamin Sheares declined to grant Wong clemency and dismissed her petition on 23 July 1973, hereby finalizing Wong's death sentence. Wong's case was subsequently assigned to the then Chief Justice of Singapore Wee Chong Jin, who would fix a date for Wong to be executed, to which the sentence would be carried out within the next three weeks after a clemency plea is rejected. Similarly, the clemency appeal of Wong's accomplice Sim Woh Kum was also rejected.

Eventually, Wong's execution was scheduled to take place on 27 July 1973. Sim's execution was also ordered to be carried out on the same day as well.

On 27 July 1973, nearly three years and seven months after murdering Watanabe and five days after losing her plea for clemency, 34-year-old Mimi Wong and her 40-year-old husband Sim Woh Kum were both hanged at dawn, with executioner Darshan Singh carrying out the executions. On the same day of Wong's execution, another convicted murderer, Osman bin Ali, a gardener who killed a cook and an amah in Leedon Park in November 1970, was executed at around the same time as Wong and Sim's executions.

After she was sentenced to death, Mimi Wong was transferred to Changi Prison, where she was incarcerated on death row while pending her appeals and possible execution. Wong's appeal was first heard in March 1972, with prominent lawyer David Saul Marshall arguing her appeal on her behalf. Wong's appeal was heard in the same court as Sim's. In the appeal, among the eleven grounds of his appeal, Marshall mainly argued that the trial judges did not give equal weight of consideration when they faced the parts of evidence that were in Wong's favour, including her evidence of diminished responsibility.

Marshall also said there was an error for the judges to determine that Wong had indeed stabbed Ayako Watanabe with the intention to cause her death or any bodily injury that resulted in death, and thus he said Wong did not receive a fair trial. In response, the prosecution argued that Wong had indeed premeditated the murder of Ayako and stated that she did not suffer from abnormality of the mind from her awareness to quickly clean the blood from herself and her clothes after the killing and prior knowledge of Ayako's prowess in martial arts (which was why she brought Sim along). After hearing the appeal, the three judges from the Court of Appeal - T Kulasekaram, Frederick Arthur Chua (aka F A Chua) and Wee Chong Jin (then Chief Justice of Singapore) - rejected Wong's appeal on 23 July 1972, as they were satisfied that there was no miscarriage of justice in Wong's case. Sim also lost his appeal on the same day, as the judges found that he, unlike what his lawyers argued, indeed shared a common intention with Wong to kill Ayako, and he thus should be guilty of murder.

On 6 January 1970, Wong and Hiroshi shared a dinner at their Everitt Road house. Wong asked Hiroshi if he could spend the night with her. Hiroshi declined, saying that he would be working overtime, and once he finished his work for the day, he would go back to Jalan Sea View to spend the night with his family. Upon hearing this, Wong realised this was a good chance for her to get back at Ayako.

In November 1970, the trial of Mimi Wong and Sim Woh Kum began to take place. The prosecutor prosecuting the couple was Francis Seow. Lawyers N C Goho and John Tan Chor Yong were assigned to represent Wong and Sim respectively in their defence.

After a trial lasting 26 days, on 7 December 1970, High Court judge Tan Ah Tah pronounced the verdict in court. Wong and Sim were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death for murdering Ayako Watanabe. The two judges, Tan Ah Tah and Choor Singh, found that Wong was indeed in control of her mental faculties and thus was not mentally abnormal at the time of her crime, and had intended to murder Ayako out of jealousy over the possible break-up Hiroshi would initiate with her. As for Sim, the judges felt that he should take full responsibility of committing the murder since he shared the common intention with Wong to do the act, hence they sentenced him to death together with Wong.

In late-1969, three years into his relationship with Mimi Wong, Hiroshi Watanabe decided to admit to his wife that he indeed had an affair with another woman. According to Hiroshi, his wife did not approve of his affair with Wong. Hiroshi could not end the relationship immediately, as he knew that Wong had a bad temper besides being able to drink a lot of alcohol. When Wong became aware of this, Hiroshi was given some hints from Wong that something drastic would happen to his wife or him or his family if he ever dared to cut off ties with her.

On 23 December 1969, Hiroshi's wife Ayako Watanabe (渡辺 绫子) and her three children arrived in Singapore by flight. Hiroshi took his family to Everitt Road where they first met Wong and her daughter. Despite welcoming the family into the house and treating them nicely, Wong was writhing in jealousy behind this facade of kindness and politeness. Subsequently, the Watanabe family went to live in a rented house in Jalan Sea View.

Eventually, Wong became pregnant with Hiroshi's child. Despite asking for money from Hiroshi for an abortion, Hiroshi declined her request by claiming that he had no cash. Wong later travelled to Penang for an abortion. Despite this, the two maintained their relationship. Simultaneously, in 1968, two years into her relationship with Hiroshi, Wong met a Hong Kong businessman, who also fell to her feminine charms and started a relationship with Wong. Wong later separated from Hiroshi and stayed together with the businessman in Hong Kong. Despite this, she continued to communicate with Hiroshi (who still remained in Singapore) in love letters. Wong's relationship with the businessman did not last long, as when the man found out that Wong was pregnant with his child, he drove her out of his house. This time, Wong did not abort the fetus, and in 1969, after she returned to Singapore, she gave birth to a daughter. She temporarily took up a job as a social escort to eke out a living.

In 1966, three years after she first started her bar hostess career, Wong first met Hiroshi Watanabe (渡边弘), an engineer and high-ranking member of a Japanese corporation. Hiroshi was first sent to Singapore in January 1966 and was first assigned a job to carry out a reclamation project in the eastern part of Singapore. His wife and three children - a son and two daughters - remained in Japan. When they first met, Hiroshi instantly became attracted to Wong. He would later on frequently go to the bar to patronise it, just to engage in entertainment with Wong, who slowly became attracted to Hiroshi as well. They later became lovers, though Hiroshi himself could not bear to abandon his wife for Wong, for he still harboured feelings for his wife despite the infidelity, and Wong herself knew that their illicit relationship will not end well given Hiroshi's status as a married man.

Not only that, Sim himself was a compulsive gambler, who often gambled away their hard-earned money, which aggravated the family's already-precarious financial situation. The gambling habit would cost Sim his job and the family's life savings. This forced Wong to take up part-time jobs to support their family, including a stint at a bar as a hostess. Despite his loss of employment, Sim persisted in his gambling habits, and he sometimes stole Wong's hard-earned income to feed his own appetite for gambling. Given their financial difficulties and Sim's own incompetence, Wong was slowly disillusioned with Sim, and she ultimately decided to leave him in 1963, resulting in Sim having to take care of their two sons and his own elderly mother alone.

In 1956, the year she turned 17, Wong Weng Siu was invited to a picnic by a friend. During this time, she first met a HDB sweeper named Sim Woh Kum, who was six or seven years older than her. Sim was also working as a school canteen stallholder at the time he first knew Wong. Subsequently, both Wong and Sim became romantically involved. The couple dated for the next two years before they married in 1958. In that same year, both Wong and Sim welcomed their first son. Their second son was born four years later in 1962.

Mimi Wong, birth name Wong Weng Siu, was born in 1939. She was the offspring of her father's second wife.