On 13 January 1998, a Bulgarian student named Iordanka Apostolova (Иорданка Апостолова), alias Tamia Pachinko (Тамиа Пачинко), was discovered dead in a canal at Tanah Merah Ferry Road, Singapore.

A third accomplice, the wife of one of the executed men who helped conceal the evidence of the murder, was subsequently imprisoned for six years by the courts for failing to report the crime to the authorities.

Professor Chao ascertained that the victim had died a slow and painful death, as he found multiple incised wounds on the woman's neck, which were caused by a sharp object slicing her neck, and these wounds could cause slow bleeding that would result in death due to excessive loss of blood.

It was traced back to a petrol station where CCTV footage showed two Malay men purchasing the contents shown on the receipt.

[4] Two days later, after confessing to his uncle and parents that he helped Shaiful dispose of Apostolova's body, 26-year-old Norishyam s/o Mohamed Ali (the other man in the CCTV footage), a friend of Shaiful from his two-year mandatory training at National Service (NS), surrendered himself to the police and told police about his role in the murder.

On 29 July 1998, Shaiful Edham bin Adam and Norishyam s/o Mohamed Ali stood trial in the High Court of Singapore for the murder of Iordanka Apostolova.

The prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Francis Tseng, charged that the two men shared a common intention to kill Apostolova, since they acted together in ensuring her death and disposing of her body.

The defence alleged that given his annoyance at Shaiful's demands to return the cash, Mohammed Noor fabricated his story about the phone call.

He told the court that Shaiful asked him to look for a professional killer to help kill someone who showed interest in his wife; this conversation was confirmed by Koh Tee Hong and Koh Tee Yang, who knew Gan through the car purchase deal and heard about Shaiful's murder plot from Gan.

During the argument, Apostolova allegedly threatened to call her "foreign friends" (referring to the Mafia, presumably) to use force to settle the issues, and this escalated into vulgarities.

[8][9][10] Hezlinda supported her husband's testimony and also placed the full blame of the crime on Norishyam; she was not yet charged for her role in the murder at this point.

He even actively participated in cleaning the flat and helped the couple dispose of Apostolova's body in the canal in Tanah Merah Ferry Road.

Although the disposal of the victim's body in the water was responsible for a quickened death and was done under the mistaken belief that she had already died, it did not downplay the intention of the duo to murder Apostolova.

[14] On 21 September 1998, Hezlinda binte A. Rahman was arrested and charged in the district courts of Singapore with abetting her husband and Norishyam to dispose Apostolova’s corpse, and for not reporting the murder to the police.

Senior district judge Richard Magnus, in sentencing Hezlinda, called her “wicked” and her conduct “reprehensible” as he referred to the cold-blooded nature of her crime and her active role as lookout while her husband killed Apostolova.

Both men reused their defences and arguments made in their trial to ask the Court of Appeal of Singapore to review their cases and convictions.

Having cited past murder cases involving the concept of common intention, they decided to dismiss the appeals of Shaiful and Norishyam on 11 January 1999.

One of the trial witnesses, Mohamed Noor bin Rahmat, who was originally approached to help Shaiful murder Apostolova, was interviewed by the show's producers, albeit with his face concealed to protect his identity.