The Toa Payoh Ritual Murders | Adrian Lim | 1981 | 2/2

It's the late 1980s, and the clock ticked towards the tragic and brutal fate of young Agnes Ng. Just nine years old, at the hands of the monstrous Adrian Lim. Lucy Lau Kaukwang was diligently weaving through the residential maze of Topio Block 12, armed with the allure of beauty products she was asked to promote. A journey led her to the enigmatic 7th floor, which presented an entrance that starkly contrasted with all she had seen. The portal, a dawn with an altar, was both alluring and disquieting, shrouded by a veil of ivy that played host to an eerie dance of spectral amber light. It whispered in harsh tones to Lucy, possibly echoes of foreboding, but she couldn't locate the source. The door then creaked open, revealing Adrian Lim. Hello, I'm Lucy. I'm here to introduce our newest beauty solution, highly effective, especially for those with pale complexions, she ventured. Pale skin, I see. Use that how you've been hiding your condition, Adrian responded in an odd cryptic manner. Take on a back, Lucy asked, "I'm sorry, what do you mean?" Leaning towards Lucy, Adrian murmured, "Can't you sense it? The chilling presence lurking around you. Surely you can feel it." Adrian's bewildering tales continued. "Lucy, to tell you the truth, you're shadowed by a spirit. It's barred from entering here. So I suggest you step in quickly and then we can discuss more." With superstitions being common at the time, Lucy, like many of her contemporaries, ventured into Adrian's lair. Inside, she was captivated by his theatrics, spinning webs of stories and tricks until he unveiled his unorthodox solution to her perverted spectral problem. "This isn't making any sense," Lucy responded, punctuating a statement with a sip of water. This doesn't make any sense, I won't partake in such rituals with you." Adrian's suggested method for banishing her ghost was an intimate ritualistic act, which Lucy flatly rejected. As she did so, she was struck by a sudden spell of vertigo. In the moments before darkness claimed her, she could have sworn she saw a sinister smile creep onto Adrian Lim's face. In 1981, Singapore's CID officer, as came in on, uncovered a horrifying trail of events at the pile block 12, where a young boy was found dead. This trail led him to Adrian Lim, an infamous figure in the annals of Singapore's criminal history. Adrian was born in 1942, developed a fascination with the occult, which spiraled into dangerous obsessions and manipulative behaviors. He met Katherine Tan Mui Chu, a woman struggling with personal hardship, and manipulated her into becoming his accomplice in his increasingly heinous practices. Another woman, Hou Ka Hong, was also manipulated into becoming Adrian's holy wife, which met some resistance until Adrian murdered her husband via electrocution. He had avoided any repercussions simply by gaslighting whole into believing that her husband had died from accidental electrocution, a scenario not uncommon in the 1970s. With Katherine and Hou drawn into his web of deception, Adrian descended further into his depraved desires, eventually convincing the duo to bring him more vulnerable women for treatment. As the year 1980 came to a close, Adrian Lim was deeply immersed in his delusions, having successfully ensnared and astonishing 40 women to become his holy wives. The ease with which he dominated, these susceptible women, seemed to have emboldened him, eventually leading to a faithful encounter with Lucy, who resisted his advances. To overcome her resistance, Adrian turned to deception and drugged her with sedatives, concealed within a seemingly benign milk concoction, masquerading as a healing elixir. In an unconscious state, Adrian assaulted her, violating her dignity and trust. Following this, he exploited a toxic mix of threats and drugs to manipulate Lucy, drawing her back into his lair time and time again. By November 7, 1980, Lucy summoned her courage and sought justice by filing a police complaint. As per the records, this marked the first instance of Adrian's victims, taking a decisive stand against him, leading to his swift arrest, though he was subsequently released on bail. These events shook Adrian, serving as a stark reminder that his power was not absolute. Lucy's defiance, coupled with the looming presence of the authorities, ready to scrutinize him at will, stirred doubt within him. His assumed invincibility was starting to crumble. In court, months later, he would confess that this episode profoundly affected him, challenging his perception of himself as a Casanova. Simultaneously, accusations of rape sparked rage within him, given the flock of women willingly serving as his holy wives. I felt as though I had been framed and the police were blinded. Contemplating Lucy's defiance and the relentless scrutiny of the authorities, Adrian decided to retaliate. He turned to his two most faithful wives, Catherine and Ho, and presented them with a chilling plan for revenge against the police, a plot involving the murder of children. The story that followed will be violent, cruel and unforgiving. It will grip the nation and burn Adrian Lim's name into the history of Singapore's morbid past because Adrian Lim would become the first ritual murderer in Singapore. You're listening to Hainas, an Asian True Crime Podcast brought to you by Medicorp and produced by One Up Media. This episode contains scenes of graphic imagery and violence. But it's in a discretion is advised. On the 24th of January, 1981, a day began like any other, for 9-year-old Agnes Ung Siu Hock, a student at Holy Innocence Chinese Girls' School, a routine involved waiting for her older sister after school, at the church of the Ryzen Christ into Pio. They would then make their way home together. However, that Saturday would forever alter this routine, as the sister arrived to find an ominously empty bench where Agnes usually waited. The exact timeline of the family's reaction remains unclear, but the discovery of Agnes followed swiftly. A man returning from a late night film, walked by to Pio's block 11. On the edge of his view, by the staircase, he noticed something strange, a non-descript brown TVC travel bag, compelled by curiosity and suspicion, he unzipped the bag, revealing a sight that would haunt him, the young face of Agnes, eagerly still in death. Authorities were immediately summoned to the scene, but the lack of clear evidence proved a daunting hurdle. The motivations behind Agnes' murder remained a murky enigma, with traces of sedatives in a blood and indications of sexual assault pointing to anything from a heinous act of opportunity to a meticulously planned revenge plot. One week later, the scales tipped towards the revenge theory, when the own family received a chilling message from the murderer, threatening to harm the remaining children. However, the true motive behind this horrific act was concealed from all. It was a twisted act of revenge, not against the own family, but against the police force. As the investigation dragged on, the pressure upon the police intensified. A week later, the horror would spill over into the neighboring region of Clemente. After finishing his lessons at Henry Park Primary School, young Ghazali was at the park, immersed in playful bliss with his two cousins. At that moment, a woman approached him with a seemingly innocuous request, assistance in collecting and moving some items from a friend's house. Ghazali, an endearing and helpful boy, agreed to lend a hand, yet his generous act of kindness would lead to his untimely death. Hours later, in the early hours of February 7th, Ghazali was found dead near a hedge in front of Topaya Block 10. According to Mr. Minon, the CID officer leading the investigation, Ghazali's lifeless body lay on an open patch of grass, mere meters away from Adrian Lim's residence. With a second victim, the urgency to resolve the case reached a critical level, but help would come from an unlikely source. Ghazali himself, as if standing his ground one last time, the fallen Ghazali's trail of blood provided a crucial lead, guiding the authorities straight to Topaya Block 12. The blood trail was so precise that it led them directly to the floor, Adrian Lim recited on, allowing the police to swiftly seal off the block and commence a thorough door to door search. Ghazali's death marked a turning point, because moments later, the authorities found themselves right outside Adrian Lim's door. Initially, it seemed obvious that they had the right house. From the outside, the house radiated an uncanny aura. Upon entering, the authorities found unsettling evidence, traces of blood in the kitchen, and particularly stored vials of blood in the refrigerator. But according to Mr. Minon, Adrian held a convincing story. I asked him about it, and he said Chinese New Year was just over, and he had been killing chickens in the kitchen. Yet, as the search of the premises continued, they found a well-worn telephone directory. Upon being instructed to open it, Catherine turned the pages to reveal two names inscribed within. Agnes and Ghazali. In that moment, the macabre reality of the topi-original murders came to light, leading to the immediate arrest of all three involved. As they were transported to the police station, the grim picture began to form for the authorities. However, they were yet to understand the full extent of the horror. That is, until whole, one of Adrian's holy wives decided to unveil the chilling sequence of events that unfolded on the dreadful days of the murders. Whole revealed that she had been given a chilling assignment by Adrian to lure in potential victims who Adrian disturbingly referred to as "fish". In a pursuit of this macabre task, whole managed to convince three young girls, each of whom Adrian carelessly rejected, for various arbitrary reasons, such as race, size, or susceptibility to panic. Agnes was the fourth child she approached, and tragically, she fell into the sinister trap. What happened to her after the abduction is nothing short of horrific. On the day she was kidnapped, Agnes was first subdued with a sedative injection, after which the trio suffocated her. Adrian then proceeded to violate her, but the ghastly ritual was far from over. The trio decided to turn Agnes into a blood sacrifice. Seeing a needle, they pricked Agnes' finger, consuming the blood that rolled up. In chilling detail, whole testified, "I immersed her head in a tub of water. Adrian stepped on Agnes' body, while Catherine had a licks." After ending her life, they callously stuffed Agnes into a travel bag, before moving on to their next unsuspecting target. Ho said that Ghazali was selected for a deeply unsettling reason. He bore striking resemblance to her deceased husband. Ghazali met a similar fate to Agnes. He was drugged, choked, and drowned. However, one more monstrous act befell Ghazali. Ghazali had shown signs of resistance during his ordeal. The trio took it a step further, by electrocuting his lifeless body post-mortem. When the heinous deeds of the trio came to light, Singaporean society was shocked to its core. Every television and radio network broadcasted the unfolding story, as citizens flocked to the courthouse, driven by morbid fascination to witness the trial of the ritual murderous first-hand. This sensational trial spanned 41 days, during which the defence argued diminished responsibility. This term is typically used to suggest that the accused were not fully in control of their actions at the time of the crime. Indeed, the apporant act of drinking blood and the senseless targeting of children, appeared to support the notion that the trio were not of sound mind. The defence's case was bolstered by conflicting psychiatric evaluations, with some asserting that the trio were mentally unstable. However, whole stock and chilling testimony shattered this illusion of madness. The deliberate selection of victims, the methodical inflection of torment, all pointed to a cold, calculated cruelty, rather than the chaotic violence of insanity. The courtroom and the world outside came to realise that these were not the actions of the deranged, but of the perfectly sane. After 41 days of deliberation, presiding judged T. S. Sinathare, delivered the verdict. All three were sentenced to death by hanging. A sentence carried out on November 25, 1988. The infamous Topaya ritual murders, perpetrated by Adrian Liman's accomplices, sent Ripples through the fabric of Singapore in society. The trial generated an overwhelming public interest, and the chilling details reported in the media sparked intense debates about the potential harm of explicit crime reporting, against the importance of raising crime awareness. Alan John's book, Unholy Trinity, provided extensive coverage of the case, unearthing underlying societal issues like domestic violence and complacency towards it. However, many questions still linger, such as the state's failure to intervene in the continuous abuse suffered by Tarn and Ho, Lim's accomplices. Additionally, a systemic neglect towards Lim's other victims remain a sore point. Nevertheless, the trial underscored the sheer malevolence of Lim, inspiring widespread public revulsion and even threats against his defence. In popular culture, the murders inspired films like Medium Rare and God or Dog, despite their dismal box office performances. The crime awareness programme, True Files, also planned to feature the case, but face public outrage over the graphic nature of the depiction, forcing the programme to be rescheduled. Following Adrian Lim's arrest, his flat remained vacant for six years, due to local superstitions about the locations of violent crime. The redevelopment of the area where the crimes occurred, did little to erase the memory after horrific event. Nearly three decades after the executions of the killers, the trauma of the victims' families remained palpable, as evidenced in an interview with Ghazali's mother. Her ongoing grief and the anger expressed by her grandson towards the murderers, illustrates the enduring legacy of pain, left by the depy or ritual murders. Hainas, an Asian True Crime Podcast, is brought to you by MediaCorp and produced by OneUp Media. This episode was produced and written by Yogwang Jin, with audio engineering by Ethan Sam. Special thanks to executive producer Danny Cordy from MediaCorp. Thank you for listening. We'll see you in the next one.