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Yoga ball murder victim Wong Siew Fing (left) and her younger sister Wong Siew Fong, aged eight and six respectively. Photo: Handout

Exclusive | Yoga ball murderer was a manipulative husband whose motto was ‘if you don’t get caught, it’s not wrong’: sister-in-law

Wong Siew Fong questions moral standards of jailed Malaysian professor Khaw Kim Sun, the man her murdered sister fell for

“Whatever you do, it is not wrong if you don’t get caught” – this was a favourite mantra of Malaysian professor Khaw Kim Sun who killed his wife and daughter with a gas-filled yoga ball, according to his sister-in-law.

The anaesthesiologist who was jailed for life on Wednesday for murdering his wife Wong Siew Fing and daughter Lily Khaw Li Ling, was not only a man of questionable moral standards but also a manipulative and bullying husband who destroyed his wife’s self-esteem, she said in an interview with the Post.

Sister-in-law Wong Siew Fong cited a string of his actions she knew he had committed over the years that to her showed his lack of morals.

Wong Siew Fing, 47, was found dead in her car. Photo: Handout

He also repeatedly accused his late wife of being a bad mother, even though she cared deeply about her four children, she said.

Towards the end of their marriage, Siew Fing had been reduced to a “vulnerable and fragile” person from years of emotional abuse.

Yoga ball killer’s wife blamed herself for demise of marriage, diary reveals

But the sister, who delivered an eulogy at the funerals of Siew Fing and Lily in 2015, said she and the rest of the Wongs bore no grudge against Khaw.

The Mini Cooper in which the victims were found dead in 2015. Photo: Sam Tsang

“He is a deeply unhappy individual. As a family, the best thing to do is to move on with our lives,” she said. “I also believe that Siew Fing and Lily are now in a much better place.”

On Wednesday, after a 21-day trial and deliberations lasting seven hours, a High Court jury unanimously found Khaw guilty of murdering both Wong, 47, and Lily, 16, on May 22, 2015.

Revealed: how Hong Kong police solved yoga ball murder

Khaw, who taught at Chinese University and was having an affair with his student, Shara Lee, placed a yoga ball leaking with colourless and odourless carbon monoxide in their car that day, causing them to die from poisoning.

Malaysian professor Khaw Kim Sun has been jailed for life.

The presiding judge Mrs Justice Judianna Barnes Wai-ling said it was “shocking that a highly educated and successful man would conjure up such a calculated method to get rid of his wife” and suggested he did it to get the properties the couple co-owned.

At the heart of yoga ball murder case was a deeply unhappy marriage

But the couple did start out loving each other, Siew Fong, who lives in Britain said.

She recalled that her sister, the oldest among four siblings from the Brunei-based Malaysian family, met Khaw in the late 1980s when they were both training at a hospital in London. Court testimonies heard that while Khaw was studying to become a doctor, Siew Fing was a nurse.

He is a deeply unhappy individual. As a family, the best thing to do is to move on
Wong Siew Fong, sister-in-law

Although Siew Fong had yet to join her older sister then in Britain, she knew almost everything about the blossoming romance as her sister confided in her.

Khaw was Siew Fing’s first love, she said, and the pair bonded because they were both Malaysians. They also loved good food and skiing.

“She wrote to me and described him as being clean-cut and funny. She was clearly smitten,” Siew Fong said, adding that she found Khaw a polite man, who sometimes enjoyed playing practical jokes.

In 1992, Siew Fing walked down the aisle in a wedding dress from Laura Ashley, and Khaw put a ring on her finger.

But their marriage came undone many years before she died, as the murder trial heard.

The younger sister said the couple differed greatly on raising their children.

“There were a string of incidents in which Siew Fing was very uncomfortable with the morals and ethics being shown to their children,” she said.

In recalling these episodes, she suggested that he would brag each time he got away without being found out.

‘Professor Kim’, Hong Kong’s yoga ball murderer, was my landlord

Their differences also caused Khaw to accuse Siew Fing of being a bad mother, her sister said. She said Khaw had put great pressure on Siew Fing to teach the children Chinese and speak to them in Mandarin, even though she never studied the subject in school. Khaw spoke mostly in English too, according to Siew Fong.

She said Khaw blamed his wife for the family’s lack of progress in the language.

Shara Lee, Khaw’s student who would become his mistress, was roped in to teach the children Chinese.

Siew Fong said her older sister once confronted her husband when she began to notice Lee’s familiarity with him. But Khaw would tell her: “It is all in your head.”

‘Leave my lover out of murder case’, accused in yoga ball trial told police

She said she still kept in touch with the three children since the deaths of the victims.

While recent reports showed the children being photographed with Shara Lee, Siew Fong only said: “This is a very difficult situation for all concerned.”

The court heard that in 2013, when it became apparent that Khaw was having an affair, Siew Fing, who was suffering from depression, had sought support from a self-help group. Khaw dismissed it as a “cult” when he was interviewed by police.

Siew Fong said at the time, her sister was so emotionally abused that she had lost her self-respect.

“Kim Sun is manipulative, controlling and a bully. Siew Fing was finding courage and building strength to stand up to him.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Murderer’smantra was ‘don’t get caught’
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