The Malaysian said he had noticed petechiae, or broken blood vessels, on Kim’s face and a mark that resembled an abscess on the left side of his neck days before the latter’s death, but the Korean attributed the change in his facial complexion to poor sleep and his fellow detainees thought he had been bitten by insects on the neck.

“It only occurred to me after he died that he might have attempted to strangle himself,” Khaw said at the Coroner’s Court on Thursday, with two correctional services officers sitting behind him, while a third watched from a distance in front of the inquest jury.

Kim, then CEO of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in South Korea, was accused of murdering his 42-year-old wife, Song Wha-jeong, and six-year-old son, Kim Tae-yun, on January 14, 2018 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

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He was charged with two counts of murder and remanded at the reception centre pending his next court date on May 23, 2018.

But a corrections officer found Kim unconscious in bed inside his cell on April 16. He was later certified dead.

At the inquest, Khaw said he became acquainted with Kim soon after the latter’s arrival as the Korean needed English translations for instructions and communication with the other detainees, and they started spending a lot of time chatting in the day room.

Over time, Khaw said, he also arranged for his girlfriend and children to visit Kim, “just to put some humanity into the person” through simple daily conversations and to provide him with cigarettes, chocolates and basic necessities such as toothbrushes.

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Khaw described Kim as a “very pleasant and stable person” who appeared very cheerful when he was able to communicate, adding that Kim was “extremely responsible” in completing tasks assigned to the newcomers, such as sweeping floors and washing toilets.

“I was surprised that, as a rich businessman, he was willing to do all the tasks,” Khaw said.

Khaw also revealed that Kim was “quite fond of his family and actually missed them”, adding that he would think about the incident at night and feel “very sad”, which made him smoke a lot.

“He had trouble recalling what happened to his wife and son,” Khaw said. “Having read the newspapers, he was very shocked.”

Khaw said he learned that Kim was close to his mother but always had difficulty with his strict father, who was reportedly not very supportive of his business in importing chocolates and running a cafe chain.

Khaw said he understood that Kim had a “quite lucrative” chocolate business but encountered “a lot of problems” with the Rocky Mountain Coffee franchise he brought from the United States to South Korea, in part because he was a “victim” of his home country’s relations with China.

After the incident, Khaw said, Kim’s father felt “quite humiliated” and and was only willing to re-establish contact after some time.

“[Kim] was perceived as a monster in the press and they were ostracising him in Korea,” Khaw said. “The Korean consulate representative was also quite derogatory when they visited him. Basically, everyone perceived him as evil.”

Kim, however, had the impression that his father would visit and held high hopes about the meeting, Khaw said.

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He recalled that Kim had appeared “well dressed and combed his hair nicely” on the morning of the expected reunion on April 3.

When the father did not show up, Khaw said Kim was “extremely disappointed to the point of shedding tears and hiding in the corner to compose himself”.

“He became a different person,” Khaw said. “I think that put suicidal thoughts in his mind.”

Khaw said he noticed the changes to Kim’s face and neck about five days after the supposed visit. He also recalled Kim giving away his chocolates and biscuits to others on April 15, the day before he died.

“Only in retrospect did it make sense,” Khaw said. “At the time we thought he was just being kind.”

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Kim was last seen leaving his cell during a room inspection at 7.14pm on April 15.

Security footage played in court showed correctional officers patrolling the corridor outside Kim’s cell on April 16 at 6.50am, 6.53am and 7.12am before an inmate delivered drinks at 7.18am.

Assistant officer Lam Nam-hung, who had conducted the 7.12am patrol, recalled returning at 7.25am to find Kim lying in bed on his side facing the wall, with a bedsheet covering his neck and body.

When Kim did not respond to his wake-up call, Lam sounded the internal alarm for reinforcements.

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His supervisor, senior officer Tsang Hing-hong, arrived a minute later and saw that Kim was unresponsive, his neck encircled by a torn strip of his bedsheet that had been rolled into a rope and tied with two dead knots.

The inquest continues before Coroner Monica Chow Wai-choo.

Khaw was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in September 2018 for murdering his 47-year-old wife, Wong Siew Fing, and their second child Lily Khaw Li Ling, 16, in 2015.

He has appealed against his conviction but the court has yet to deliver judgment after the hearing last December.