Cops take Maxwell Food Centre murder suspect back to crime scene as more than 20 people watch
Andrew Wong
The Straits Times
Oct 15, 2024
A man who allegedly stabbed his colleague to death was taken back to the scene of the crime on Oct 15.
Flanked by six police officers, Chinese national Wu Tao returned at around 9am to the stall he was reportedly working at in Maxwell Food Centre.
Wu, 41, allegedly killed a Thai national, Ms Tan Kamonwan, 48, on Sept 6 inside a stall at the hawker centre in Kadayanallur Street between 10.25pm and 10.55pm that day.
He was charged with murder on Sept 8.
In an earlier statement, the police said Wu, a Singapore permanent resident, was arrested at Bukit Merah East Neighbourhood Police Centre shortly after 1.30am on Sept 7, after telling officers there that he had stabbed a woman.
Dressed in a red shirt, black shorts and slippers, and shackled at his wrists and ankles, Wu was taken into Dao Xiang Ju - a Chinese and Thai food outlet located in the middle of the hawker centre - on Oct 15.
A police cordon had been set up across five stalls in the food centre.
Wu, who wore a face mask, spent about 10 minutes inside the stall with the officers before he was led out. Officers placed placards with arrow signs within the premises. One officer made notes in a binder.
Another took photos inside the stall, while a colleague packed items into a large brown bag.
Wu sat quietly at a table in front of the shop with a blank expression on his face, occasionally answering questions posed to him by the officers.
By 9.30am, a crowd of more than 20 people had gathered to watch the proceedings.
Officers ended the visit at 9.45am and closed the shop's shutters. Wu was then led back to a police vehicle.
He faces the death penalty if convicted of murder.
Mr Md Fauzi, 40, who owns the stall opposite Dao Xiang Ju, said Wu and the alleged victim had started working together when the shop first opened about a year ago.
"They were very quiet and did not communicate much with the other hawkers. Maybe it was the language barrier, because they didn't seem like locals," said Mr Fauzi.
He told The Straits Times the pair later split up, with Ms Tan taking over another space two units down from Wu's stall. He pointed out a shuttered store selling Thai food.
Mr Fauzi said: "I think it was only opened for a couple of months before the incident happened."
Checks of the Singapore business registry show Ms Tan was the sole business owner of a Thai food store, incorporated in August, at Maxwell Food Centre.
So far, there have been six cases of murder or alleged murder in Singapore in 2024, with the most recent case reported on Sept 22 in the Jalan Besar area.
Muhammad Sajid Saleem, 22, allegedly murdered Mr Dhinessh Vasie, 25, during a brawl near Kim San Leng Eating House in Verdun Road.
Three other men and two women were charged with rioting with a deadly weapon while being members of an unlawful assembly, in connection with the case.
