SINGAPORE: Not only did she keep mum about the murder plot, she also masterminded her husband's cold-blooded killing by exploiting her young teen lover and manipulating him into the crime, the prosecution charged.

Aniza Essa, 25, even threatened to leave Muhammad Nasir Abdul Aziz, 17, for another man when he failed in two prior attempts to kill her husband, Mr Manap Sarlip. But Aniza, who pleaded guilty on Monday to a manslaughter charge in the High Court, was the real victim, argued her lawyer Noor Marican.

During the couple's six-year marriage, Aniza was abused regularly by Mr Manap, who had angrily rejected his wife's requests for divorce, Mr Marican said. The frequent assaults drove Aniza to chronic depression, which caused her to suffer an abnormality of mind that impaired her sense of responsibility during the period leading up to Mr Manap's murder last July, the court heard.

Driven by desperation to free herself and her two children from the abuse, Aniza was unable to prevent Nasir from killing her husband, argued Mr Marican. She was "merely going through the motions" and took the lead from Nasir.

However, the prosecution pointed out that Aniza did not report the alleged abuses to the police or the courts and instead resorted to violence to solve her problems.

The prosecution also argued that Aniza had ample opportunity to prevent the killing. Nasir had made two earlier attempts within 24 hours to kill the deceased and Aniza helped him find out the deceased's whereabouts and informed him accordingly.

In the early hours of July 1 last year, Aniza called Mr Manap twice to find out where he was to ensure that she and Nasir would arrive at her flat before her husband did.

Shortly after, Nasir ambushed Mr Manap at the couple's home in Whampoa Road, stabbing him fatally in his back, neck and chest.

Arguing for a deterrent sentence of life imprisonment, deputy public prosecutor Tan Kiat Pheng drew parallels between this case and the Annie Leong murder in 2001, in which Madam Leong's estranged husband Anthony Ler manipulated a 15-year-old boy into killing her.

High Court Judge Chan Seng Onn broadly agreed with the prosecution that Aniza had "psychologically manipulated" a young boy — who had "nothing to do" with the deceased — into the murder. Justice Chan sentenced Aniza to nine years' jail. The maximum punishment for manslaughter is 10 years' jail or life imprisonment.

Nasir, 17, faces one charge of murder and his trial will start on Monday. If convicted, he faces an indefinite stay behind bars as he was under 18 at the time of the killing and would be spared the mandatory death penalty. Underaged offenders are detained until they are granted clemency by the President.


- TODAY/so