On 14 February 1987, 47-year-old cake shop proprietor Lee Juay Heng (李锐兴 Lǐ Ruìxīng) was stabbed to death by three men during a robbery bid in Hougang, Singapore.

The three robbers - Luah Kang Hai (赖江海 Lài Jiānghǎi), Tan Joo Cheng (陈裕清 Chén Yùqīng) and Ong Ah Lek (王亚厉 Wáng Yàlì) - were all arrested and charged with murdering Lee during the robbery.

[5] On 26 February 1987, two weeks after the murder of Lee Juay Heng, an unemployed 34-year-old inmate from a drug rehabilitation centre at Sembawang was arrested for the murder case, after the police received an informant's tip-off regarding two possible suspects behind the crime, and two men were arrested; the 34-year-old inmate was found to be involved while the other was not responsible for the crime and was released thereafter.

[6][7] On 28 February 1987, the first two suspects, 34-year-old Tan Joo Cheng and 32-year-old Ong Ah Lek, were charged with murder, and they were subsequently held in remand to undergo further investigations and await trial.

[8][9][10] The third accomplice was eventually identified as a Singaporean citizen named Luah Kang Hai (alias Ah Tee), and subsequently, on 15 March 1987, he was placed on the police's wanted list as a suspect of the robbery-murder.

[11][12][13] 32-year-old Luah was eventually arrested on 27 March 1987, and he was charged in court a day later with the murder of Lee Juay Heng, hence becoming the third and final suspect to be indicted for the case.

[14][15][16] On 12 April 1989, the three perpetrators - Ong Ah Lek, Tan Joo Cheng and Luah Kang Hai - claimed trial to a single charge of murdering Lee Juay Heng back in 1987.

The case of the prosecution, led by Ismail Hamid, adduced the statements of the trio to portray the second accused Ong as the mastermind of the murder.

[23][24] After the reduction of Ong's murder charge, both Luah Kang Hai and Tan Joo Cheng continued to stand trial for the murder of Lee Juay Heng, and the two judges ruled on the same date of Ong's sentencing that both Tan and Luah had a case to answer and called for both the remaining accused to give their defence.

Overall, Tan's contention was that he never meant to kill Lee, whose death he only found out through the local Chinese newspaper Lianhe Wanbao.