On 25 October 2005, 37-year-old Lim Ah Seng (林亚成 Lín Yǎchéng), a provision shop deliveryman, strangled his 26-year-old Indonesian Chinese common-law wife Riana Agustina[a] to death in his flat in Bukit Merah, Singapore.

The family moved to Johor Bahru and rented a bungalow, and Lim also bought Riana a Honda sports car.

These incidents of abuse eventually led Lim to seek help from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and in November 2004, an official request for help was lodged.

Around this time, Riana sent a text message to an unknown 'male friend', believed to be her boyfriend, asking him to call the police as she was in trouble with her husband.

[2][4][5] On 7 July 2006, Lim Ah Seng stood trial in the High Court for the murder of Riana Agustina.

The prosecution consisted of Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPP) Edwin San and Ong Luan Tze, while Lim was represented by veteran lawyer Subhas Anandan and his nephew Sunil Sudheesan.

The defence's psychiatrist, Dr Tommy Tan of the Institute of Mental Health, testified that Lim was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which caused him abnormality of mind during the time of the killing, which amounted to diminished responsibility.

The charge was amended to one of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304(b) of the Penal Code of which Lim pleaded guilty to.

JC Menon noted that Lim was not an aggressive person by nature and had shown "uncommon meekness" in response to his wife's beatings.

There were also no aggravating factors to the case and no real likelihood of recurrence, points which DPP Edwin San accepted.

[6][8] On 26 March 2007, the High Court, on reviewing the further reports and evidence submitted, rejected the arguments of the prosecution for a longer jail term.