On 11 April 1989, 56-year-old goldsmith Phang Tee Wah (Chinese: 庞世华; pinyin: Páng Shìhuá) was kidnapped by two men before he was murdered.

On the morning of 11 April 1989, Phang was working in the shop with his wife Low Ah Kay, their eldest son and their daughter-in-law.

Sometime between 4pm and 5pm, Low Ah Kay received a phone call from individuals who told her in Hokkien that Phang, who was supposed to meet a friend at Thomson Plaza, was kidnapped by them, and they demanded a ransom of S$2 million to be paid within the next 3 days for his safe release.

[3][4] The sudden reduction of ransom also made the police suspect that the kidnappers did not intend for Phang to come back alive.

[5] Four days later, on the morning of 15 April 1989, a highly decomposed corpse was discovered abandoned at a secluded area around Pasir Ris, with the hands tied behind the back and a pillowcase covering the head.

Three of the five abductors - Lee Chor Pet, Lim Kim Kwee and Ho Kee Fatt - were hanged in January 1973 for Ong's murder.

[18][19] On 6 July 1992, both 47-year-old Liow Han Heng and 53-year-old Ibrahim bin Masod stood trial for the murder of 56-year-old Phang Tee Wah.

Veteran judge T. S. Sinnathuray, who formerly tried and sentenced infamous child killer Adrian Lim to death back in 1983, was appointed to hear the case of Liow and Ibrahim.

From this point, the prosecution, led by Christine Lee, alleged that the men had killed Phang with the purpose of silencing the goldsmith to avoid him from identifying both of them.

[24][25][26] The prosecution sought to discredit Ibrahim's defence as lies to absolve himself of his responsibility of the crime and rebutted Liow's defence, and they also argued that regardless of whoever being the person strangling Phang, they were both guilty in lieu of the common intention to commit kidnapping, since the murder was committed in concert of their intention to abduct Phang.

[37] On 29 July 1994, for the charge of murdering Phang Tee Wah while holding him hostage, 55-year-old Ibrahim bin Masod was hanged at Changi Prison.

He was executed on the same date at the same timing as four other criminals (two for murder and two for drug trafficking), including odd-job labourer Goh Hong Choon who killed a ten-year-old schoolgirl by strangulation during a robbery in April 1991.

Although the girl was released unharmed after her father paid $330,000 per a negotiated ransom deal, Lee and his accomplices were all arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in April 2000.