By Chong Shin Yen

AFTER years of marriage, his world began to crumble about a year ago.

Ng Chee Kiang, 39, and his wife were going through a rough patch in their relationship.

Whenever she brought up divorce, he would tell her: "If I leave, I'll take our children along." His words were to prove eerily prophetic.

On Saturday night, while his wife, Madam Anni Ong Lay Choo, 28, was at work, he decided to turn his words into reality.

Two innocent lives - those of his young children - were ended under cruel circumstances and his wife is left alone to mourn their loss, her life now in tatters.

And it seems that Ng's callous act was not sparked by a sudden moment of rage, but something that he had contemplated and mulled over for weeks.

CALM: Madam Ong at the funeral wake yesterday.

One of Ng's relatives revealed that Ng had texted his brother in the middle of the night about three months ago, Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.

After pouring out his woes to his brother, Ng said that he wanted to jump off the block with his two children as he "could no longer continue to live".

His words chilled his brother to the bone. Ng's brother rushed over to his flat and convinced him not todo anything silly.

Ng, a restaurant manager, was the second of four brothers. He confided in them as they were close and often got together for meals.

But last Saturday, tragedy unfolded while Ng was alone with his 5-year-old son, Xavier Ng Wei Yi, and 3-year-old daughter, Cheryl Ng Shi Hui, in their sixth-storey flat.

He is believed to have killed the children before setting fire to the living room of the flat at 9.50pm.

He then leapt off from a 12th-storey parapet at Block 543, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 and died in hospital two hours later.

The New Paper understands that Xavier was strangled while his sister was suffocated.

Strangulation marks were found on the boy's neck while the girl had bruises on her face.

Their little bodies were found lying side by side on their parents' bed, covered with a blanket.

The relative, who was unnamed in the Lianhe Wanbao report, said the couple, who had been married for nine years, started having relationship problems about a year ago.

"Whenever they quarrelled or fought, Ng would say to his wife, 'If I leave, I will take our children along,' " said the relative.

Custody

It is believed that the couple had discussed getting a divorce and Ng was worried he would not get custody of the children.

Ng met Madam Ong when he was 26 and she was 15. They fell in love and dated for four years before getting married in September 2000.

According to the relative, Ng loved her a lot and always gave in to her.

Neighbours also said that the family was close-knit and that Ng doted on his children. He would buy them whatever toys they wanted.

If Ng had been feeling depressed when he texted his brother three months ago, his mood seemed to have changed about a month ago.

While attending a niece's birthday party, he told his brothers: "I've already learnt to accept it. If she wants a divorce, I'll agree to it."

It is not known what transpired since then which led himto decide to carry out his horrific deed.

Last Saturday, he sent their Indonesian maid on an errand to deliver a family album to Madam Ong's parents, who live nearby, and to buy some things.

By the time the maid returned, the four-room flat was on fire.Her employer and his children were dead.

A neighbour told The New Paper that she had earlier seen Ng taking the children home after dinner at a nearby coffee shop.

Madam Ong usually gets off her sales job at 10pm, so Ng would be responsible for picking the children up from her parents' flat.

The neighbour, who declined to be named, said: "We said 'hi' to each other and I overheard him telling his children to sleep early that night.

"He told them in Mandarin, 'Daddy will take you both out for prawn fishing tomorrow.' "

A couple of hours later, the neighbour learnt that all three were dead.

Checks by The New Paper revealed that Ng was declared a bankrupt in November 2003 after running upa debt of almost $132,000.

He is believed to have chalked up the amount from credit card bills and remained an undischarged bankrupt.

No loan shark problem

Ng's brother had earlier told reporters that he was not facing financial difficulties.

It was also reported that Ng's unit had been splashed with red paint a few weeks ago. But it has since emerged that the loan sharks might not have been targeting him.

A neighbour, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said that another neighbour was the one who had borrowed money.

Mr Tan, 59, a retiree, said red paint had been splashed on the doors of a number of units in the block. Said Mr Tan: "These are the loan sharks' tactics to put pressure on their debtors.

FUNERAL WAKE: The coffins of Ng Chee Kiang and his two children at the void deck of Block 543, Ang Mo Kio Ave 10. They will be cremated tomorrow.

"They would splash paint on neighbours' doors too. The unit number that was written on the walls from the second to the sixth floor was not theirs (the Ngs)."

The walls have since been repainted.

Yesterday, Madam Ong was a picture of calm at the wake, a stark contrast to her demeanour over the previous two days.

At times, she broke into a smile as she spoke to friends and relatives at the wake. She declined to be interviewed.

On Monday, the first day of the wake, she was so distraught she had to be propped up and helped around by relatives.

That night, she kept holding on to a photo album with pictures of her children, which she showed to people at the wake.

The area where their caskets were placed was blocked off with canvas sheets, preventing curious onlookers from seeing them.

The bodies will be cremated tomorrow afternoon. The police have classified the case as murder- cum-suicide and investigations are ongoing.

chongsy@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.