SINGAPORE, May 24 — Thinking his wife was a demon that he needed to banish from existence, Paul Leslie Quirk viciously beat her with martial arts weapons in their Buangkok condominium unit in a bid to "finish her”.

Christina Khoo Gek Hwa fled to the balcony, where fellow residents watched in shock as he continued assaulting her while she pleaded for help.

When she ran back into the unit and eventually collapsed, he retrieved a kitchen knife and fatally stabbed her multiple times in the neck.

He then similarly killed their 10-month-old family poodle and threw it off the balcony.

On Monday (May 24), the Australian national, now aged 49, was sentenced in the High Court to 10 years’ jail. 

He pleaded guilty to culpable homicide — reduced from a more serious charge of murder as he had killed Khoo, then aged 43, while suffering from auditory hallucinations stemming from a schizophrenic relapse.

Another charge of committing mischief, in relation to killing the puppy, was taken into consideration for sentencing.

Quirk, who hails from Melbourne and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2005, had grown more sporadic in taking his medication in the few months leading up to the killing on January 2 last year.

He first moved to Singapore in 2016 and tied the knot with Khoo the following year. He then adopted her son, now aged 15, from her first marriage and the family moved into a third-floor unit at Esparina Residences.

He was in the Republic on a long-term visit pass and worked as a senior podiatrist at Punggol Polyclinic, the court heard.

Voices told him to ‘finish’ wife

The day before the fatal incident, the couple argued at their home after Quirk told her he wanted to return to Australia. They would occasionally quarrel over the alimony he owed his ex-wife.

He then went over to where his parents and brother, who were visiting him from Australia, were staying. He told his brother about his desire to go back to Australia, saying he "felt pressured” to stay in the relationship and it was not going well.

At about 3am, he sent Khoo a series of WhatsApp text messages, apologising for walking out on her. He also said he was not feeling himself and was quite confused.

He then returned to their condo unit with his brother at about 3.45am and talked to her in the bedroom.

At about 10am, the couple left the condo complex and parted ways with his brother. The couple then went to the nearby Catholic Spirituality Centre along Upper Serangoon Road. 

There, Quirk heard a voice telling him repeatedly: "I have a chance to stop this from getting worse.” 

The voices soon began growing more insistent, saying Khoo was evil and that staying with her would upset the order and balance of everything. He also saw a passerby wearing a marathon "finisher” T-shirt, and his mind broke this down to "finish her”.

He did not tell his wife about the voices and they went home at about 11.30am. Their son was still in school, leaving them alone in the unit.

As Quirk took a shower, voices told him that now was the time to strike and to hurry up.

Wife screamed for help from balcony

Grabbing two pairs of sticks used by those who practise the martial art Kali, he began hitting her "forcefully and indiscriminately” on various parts of her body and head, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Andre Chong told the court.

She soon ran out onto the balcony and screamed for help in a desperate bid to attract the neighbours’ attention. He went on assaulting her while shouting: "You die, you die.”

The people staying directly below them saw her leaning forward on the balcony, her bloodied head moving back and forth. She stretched one hand out in a plea for help but Quirk pulled her back by her hair.

She then ran back into the unit, fleeing through the living room and into the master bedroom. He pursued her and continued assaulting her with the sticks and a plastic clothes hanger, which snapped from the impact and became entangled in her hair.

She soon collapsed from the blows.

Quirk retrieved a knife with a 20.5cm-long blade from the kitchen and stabbed her multiple times on the neck, only stopping when he was satisfied he had killed her.

Immediately after, he stabbed their dog multiple times as well, throwing it off the balcony. He then told his brother "It is done” in a WhatsApp text message.

Responding to multiple reports, police officers went to his unit. He opened the door while covered in blood, telling them he was Jesus Christ and he had killed his wife as she was a demon in human form whom he had to get rid of "from this plane of existence”.

He later claimed that he was from heaven and had heard voices prompting him to kill Khoo, adding that he "felt more at peace” afterwards.

He added that he killed the poodle as it was the demon’s familiar and that by throwing it off the balcony, he was throwing it into the abyss. 

Also had depression

DPP Chong told the court that Quirk was first diagnosed with depression in 2001. He began experiencing auditory hallucinations in 2005 and self-harmed twice, believing he could save the world by dying.

He went to a private psychiatrist in Singapore and complied with his daily medication until around August 2019 when he began taking it every two to three days.

In October, his psychiatrist observed his mental state was normal and gave him his regular four-month prescription.

After his offences, an Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist found that he was likely in the throes of a psychotic relapse that had affected his impulse control and impaired his mental responsibility for his actions.

However, his initial attempts to resist the hallucinations showed some level of control.

‘Horrific and bizarre’: Judge

The prosecution sought at least 10 years’ jail in order to secure his compliance with medicine. DPP Chong noted that his risk of a violent relapse was high if he stopped taking them, and it had been his third relapse from failing to stick to his medication regime.

In mitigation, his lawyer Anand Nalachandran said that he was clearly not thinking right or rationally, having "succumbed to powerful delusions”.

According to an IMH report, his parents thought everything was fine when they came to visit and only noticed he seemed "a bit more removed and distant” right before the killing. 

"He came to Singapore and voluntarily sought out treatment and complied with medication. Unfortunately, he felt he was in remission again. He didn’t reduce his medication, he adjusted them,” added Nalachandran, who sought six to seven years’ jail.

The lawyer said that Quirk will likely be repatriated after his sentence and will stay with either his parents or brother, who have pledged to supervise him.

In sentencing Quirk, Justice Ang Cheng Hock called the offences "horrific and bizarre”, noting that incarceration would both serve to protect the public from a violent relapse and rehabilitate him in a secure and structured environment.

"It was entirely reckless for him to reduce his medication… This tragically led to the killing of Madam Khoo,” said the judge.

For culpable homicide, Quirk could have been jailed for life or up to 20 years with a fine or caning. — TODAY