SINGAPORE – A team of lawyers have been engaged to represent a man accused of Ms Felicia Teo Wei Ling’s murder in 2007, a district court heard on Thursday (Dec 24).
Lawyer Shashi Nathan of Withers KhattarWong told the court that he and his team – Ms Tania Chin and Ms Laura Yeo – will be defending Ahmad Danial Mohamed Rafa’ee.
The case has been adjourned to Dec 31.
Ahmad, now 35, is accused of murdering Ms Teo, 19, at a Marine Terrace flat in the wee hours of June 30, 2007.
The Singaporean is said to have committed the offence with another man, Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana, now 32.
Ragil is still at large and the two men are believed to be friends with Ms Teo.
Ms Teo’s disappearance in 2007 made headlines when her family and friends refused to believe the teenager had run away.
She had left her home in Bras Basah on June 29 that year, the last time her parents saw her.
Closed-circuit television footage later showed her entering a lift in a Marine Terrace housing block with two men. Ahmad and Ragil are said to have killed her the next day.
Ms Teo’s mother lodged a missing persons police report on July 3, 2007.
Officers began investigating and they initially classified Ms Teo’s disappearance as a missing persons case.
This was because they did not find any facts linking the two men to her disappearance. The men had earlier told officers that Ms Teo left the flat of her own accord.
Her friends and family then conducted their own search and more than 200 people became involved in it in 2007.
They distributed fliers, ran advertisements in newspapers and combed places, including Geylang, Yishun and Woodlands.
Meanwhile, police continued regularly reviewing the case until this year.
The case was referred to the Criminal Investigation Department this July and officers then managed to uncover new leads.
They arrested Ahmad on Dec 15 and he was charged with murder in a district court two days later.
It was not mentioned in court on Thursday if the authorities have found Ms Teo’s remains. There are also no updates on Ragil’s case.
Offenders convicted of murder will face the death sentence.
