By Arul John

MADAM Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz, 32, was found dead at the bottom of Block 181, Stirling Road at about 4.40am on 1 Jul 2007.

According to his police statement, her estranged husband, Tharema Vejayan Govindasamy, 40, met her at the bus stop in front of the flat, and dragged her to the void deck of the block, beating her along the way.

Tharema Vejayan surrendered to the police two days later.

During his trial, Tharema Vejayan said he celebrated the birthday of a friend, Mr Abdul Razak P Maudu, earlier that day and received a missed call from Madam Smaelmeeral.

He said he asked Mr Abdul Razak to drop him near Queenstown MRT station as he wanted to take her home.

When he saw her drunk, carrying a beer bottle, and dressed in a 'havoc' manner at the bus stop in front of the block, he got angry.

But he claimed he could not remember what happened after that.

His lawyers, Mr S Radakrishnan and Mr Rajan Supramaniam, said their client was intoxicated at the time.

They added that he had faced 'grave and sudden' provocation when he saw Madam Smaelmeeral's drunken state and dressing.

They also argued that Madam Smaelmeeral could have committed suicide.

Black magic?

But Justice Tay was not convinced by this, nor was he convinced that Tharema Vejayan was suffering from a paranoid delusion caused by his belief that he had been cursed by black magic.

One of Tharema Vejayan's friends, Mr Pannirselvam Anthonisamy aka Appu, had told police that Tharema Vejayan told him he had thrown Madam Smaelmeeral's legs over the parapet.

But in court, he said Tharema Vejayan told him he tried to pull Madam Smaelmeeral up by her legs but lost strength, causing her to fall.

In his police statement, Tharema Vejayan said that when he saw Madam Smaelmeeral in her drunken state, he became angry and dragged her across the driveway to the lift lobby of the block, beating her as he dragged her along.

He wanted to take Madam Smaelmeeral to the void deck to help her freshen up, but 'could not take it anymore' when he noticed her drunken state and decided to slap her in the lift instead.

He took her to the lift lobby, slapped her a few times there, and pulled her into one of the lifts when it arrived.

When the lift door opened on the 12th storey, he pulled her out of the lift, and to the corridor outside the first flat.

He put her against the parapet wall, then scolded and hit her again before throwing her down.

This article was first published in The New Paper.

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