SINGAPORE, Sept 6 — A man previously charged with murdering 19-year-old Felicia Teo Wei Ling, who went missing in 2007, is set to plead guilty to less serious charges on October 14.
Ahmad Danial Mohamed Rafa’ee, now aged 37, was already expected to do so in July but the court hearing was adjourned due to issues to be resolved between the prosecution and defence. The new date was set during a pre-trial conference last Friday (September 2).
Ahmad remains the sole suspect to be charged over Teo's disappearance. He was arrested in December 2020 and charged with her murder, before being remanded for one-and-a-half years.
In June this year, he was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the murder charge. This means that the capital charge can be revived and Ahmad can still be prosecuted in the future should new evidence, for instance, emerge.
He was then handed six other charges. These include disposing of Teo’s corpse in the vicinity of Punggol Track 24, fabricating false evidence by creating a false impression that she was still alive, and misappropriating a deceased person’s property by taking her electronic devices.
The prosecution applied for the discharge on the basis that the other main suspect — Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana, 34 — remains at large.
He is believed to be overseas, with his LinkedIn profile last listing him as being based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ahmad’s new charges list Ragil as a co-conspirator.
The two men are believed to have been the last to see Teo after a party at Block 19 Marine Terrace on June 30, 2007. The three are said to have been friends and were students at Lasalle College of the Arts.
Teo's body has not been found and details of what actually happened to her have not publicly surfaced, though the prosecution previously said that a skull fragment was found where Ahmad allegedly said they had disposed of her body.
Ahmad has lodged an appeal against the district court's decision not to fully acquit him of murder.
TODAY reported District Judge Eugene Teo's full grounds of decision last month, where he wrote that it better served the public's interest to grant Ahmad a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
Ahmad remains out on bail of S$20,000 (RM64,026).
If convicted of depositing a corpse, Ahmad could be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$2,000, or both.
Those convicted of misappropriating a deceased person's property can be jailed for up to three years and fined.
Those who fabricate false evidence to be used during a judicial proceeding can be jailed for up to seven years or fined.
A murder charge carries either the death penalty or life imprisonment. ― TODAY
