Murder of Clementina Curci

After she was strangled and became unconscious, Curci's naked body was immersed in a bathtub full of water, resulting in her death due to both drowning and strangulation.

A month after the police's first stage of investigations, a 18-year-old cleaner named Maksa bin Tohaiee, a Singaporean, who was part of the cleaning team hired by Curci's family to clean the house and the sole member absent at the time of her murder, was arrested and charged with murder, and Maksa confessed to having sneaked into the house to steal items and strangled Curci before killing her.

On the afternoon of 10 October 1990, Philips Singapore executive Franco Di Girolamo, an Italian expatriate, came back home for lunch at his family's new bungalow house around Bo Seng Avenue, and as he arrived home, Do Girolamo noticed the items inside the house were in full disarray and tried to look for his wife, but to no avail.

Three members (including Lim) of the hired cleaning group were questioned but none of them stated they heard or see anything amiss when they arrived at the bungalow to start their work.

[3] Maksa was brought in for questioning at the CID, but he denied being at the house at the time of the murder and claimed that he was absent on sick leave that same day.

By this time, Maksa's 18-year-old girlfriend Rosidah told police during questioning that shortly after his release from the CID, Maksa had given her a black wallet and Brazilian currency notes, telling her to sell the wallet and convert the foreign cash (which were worth around S$460 in total) to SGD as he stole them from the Di Girolamo family's new house.

[7] With this new information, Maksa was summoned back to CID, and he readily admitted during questioning that he indeed stole items from the bungalow, starting from the first day he arrived to clean the house.

It was at this point Maksa finally admitted he killed Curci on that day, and he claimed he was panicked when he was caught red-handed by the victim, whom he restrained and strangled by an arm lock by slinging one of his arms around Curci's neck, while she was struggling and trying to defend herself (it led to Maksa being bitten on the finger during the scuffle).

Maksa even demonstrated how he restrained the victim to Inspector Ng Chee Kok, Sergeant Tay Hock Lai and a Corporal Low when re-enacting the crime.

[14] On 29 October 1992, 20-year-old Maksa bin Tohaiee stood trial at the High Court for the murder of 38-year-old Clementina Curci.

He stated that on 10 October 1990, the day of the murder, he was resting at his older brother Shaari's flat as he was sick.

Maksa's family members, including his mother Yam binte Md Kasa, his eldest sister Khatijah, his second eldest sister Jalilah, his elder brother Shaari and his sister-in-law Azizah (Shaari's wife), were all summoned to court to give their testimonies to support Maksa's alibi defence.