It was May 2003. Mr Quek and Tran Thi Gai, 29, an attractive hostess he had met at a Joo Chiat pub, had just been married.

Yet within a few weeks, wedded bliss had ended at boiling point and Tran moved out of the marital home - only to take up with her hubby's pal, The Kuan Meng, and marry him.

But Tran had committed bigamy, and not for the first time.

She was in fact still married to mobile phone importer Liong Tian Yong. Their married life started in 2001 and lasted three years, but they never divorced.

She committed bigamy when she wed Mr Quek, although that union was null and void in the eyes of the law, given her legal ties to Hubby No. 1.

This tangled domestic drama and the wily woman at the centre of it has kept a Singapore court agog for the past two weeks.

Tran, who entered Singapore on three occasions using different passports each time, is now serving an 11-week jail term for bigamy and lying to immigration authorities that she had not used a different name or passport to enter the country.

Hubby No. 3, sales executive The, 36, received a seven-week sentence for lying to immigration authorities and helping Tran commit bigamy.

Hubby No. 2, Mr Quek, told The Sunday Times that he found out about Tran's marriage only when the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority interviewed him last year.

He said that after the marriage broke down, he lost touch with both of them. Tran had asked for a divorce in early 2004 but he could not afford to hire a lawyer to see to the paperwork.

Mr Quek, 30, was even more surprised to learn about Hubby No. 1: 'I've always thought I was her first.'

Theirs was certainly a whirlwind romance - they met in April 2003, and wed in May.

Mr Quek, a stocky and clean-cut man, said he was struck by Tran's looks and gentle demeanour. He said the fair-skinned beauty had treated him well so he never bothered to ask about the previous men in her life. They communicated in Mandarin.

'She would call to ask if I had eaten and if I had rested well,' he said.

How did he propose? 'I asked her if she would let me take care of her for the rest of her life.'

When she said yes, Mr Quek said he picked her up and twirled her around in front of the Joo Chiat supper crowd, just like in the movies. A few days later they bought a $200 pair of gold rings.

They rented a room in a three-room HDB flat in Telok Blangah and Tran quit her hostess job. Mr Quek said she was not materialistic and never demanded anything from him. He earned $1,400 a month and gave her $100 spending money occasionally.

But tensions flared, he said, when Tran started visiting her old Joo Chiat pub, sometimes not returning home until dawn.

'I told her not to go so often but she said her only friends were in the pub, so I gave her the freedom,' said Mr Quek.

Things came to a head when Tran was arrested by anti-vice officers.

The couple quarrelled endlessly and Tran suffered a miscarriage. She was not charged for vice activities but was deported to Vietnam in June.

She was back in August but did not move in with Mr Quek. That was when The came into the picture.

He was also a regular at the Joo Chiat pub where Tran had worked and already knew her background, so Mr Quek thought his friend could lend a listening ear to his estranged wife.

'I asked The to take care of her and let me know how she was doing,' said Mr Quek.

Asked if he is upset that his friend 'stole' his wife, Mr Quek shook his head.

'They already have children, and anyway I have no love for her any more,' he said.

But Hubby No. 1, Mr Liong, is less forgiving. He declined to say much except that Tran left him without giving any reason for doing so.

His parents disapproved of the marriage so Tran never moved into their Telok Blangah flat.

Both Mr Liong and Mr Quek have been interviewed by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

While Mr Quek fears the authorities may think that he entered into a sham marriage, Mr Liong, 27, is unconcerned.

'She's the one who did wrong, not me,' he said.

Court papers stated that Tran left Mr Liong because her parents were having problems back in Vietnam. She apparently told Mr Liong to see to their divorce as she did not expect to return.

The, who has been given leave by the courts to start serving his sentence when Tran is released, has already forgiven his wife for lying about her previous marriages.

The couple have two children, aged one and two. He told The New Paper: 'I just want to give her and our two children a good life.'

But that may not be up to him. Given Tran's record, she may be deported when she is released.

simlinoi@sph.com.sg