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An argument over a meal of crab triggered a killing spree by a Chinese national which ended in the deaths of three women, the High Court heard on Wednesday.

Wang Zhijian, 45, who is accused of killing them in the horrific incident on Sept. 18, 2008, told police after his arrest he was angry when his girlfriend, Madam Zhang Meng, asked him for money.

When he asked her why she needed it, she said she wanted to eat crab. He told her she had just eaten the dish a few days ago, and that they should save the money. He claimed she called him a "pauper."

He then asked her what she regarded him as. "When she is in a good mood, I am her boyfriend, but when she is not happy, I am like a beast to her," he told police.

They started arguing, during which she humiliated him and ran him down as being "produced by dogs and donkeys."

He said she fell asleep after the row, clad only in her panties, but he was still seething, thinking about how "wicked" she was and how she was spending his money "although she has not been faithful to me."

Wang, who was naked, said he went to the kitchen to cool down and when he saw a knife, grabbed it, and went back to the room to stab her while his mind went blank.

"I could see Zhang Meng still lying on the mattress... I proceeded to kneel... down and stabbed her repeatedly at her abdomen," he told police.

Wednesday was the second day of Wang's murder trial. He is accused of killing Zhang, 42, her daughter Feng Jianyu, 17, and their flatmate, Yang Jie, 36. Yang's daughter, Li Meilin, now 18, survived despite being slashed repeatedly. All are from China.

On Tuesday, the High Court heard Meilin's account of the attacks. On Wednesday, the accounts of police officers who recorded statements from Wang were read out in court.

Wang had arrived in Singapore from Tianjin on Sept 9, 2008, just nine days before the attacks.

He told police that Zhang - whom he had known in Tianjin - had picked him up from the airport and that he stayed in a room in her flat in Yishun Avenue 11. He added that he did not know the names of Yang and Meilin, who were renting a room there.

Zhang and her daughter were found stabbed to death in Wang's room. Madam Yang was found at the foot of the block.

The court heard that residents had called the police to report that someone - Madam Yang - had fallen from the block.

Assistant Superintendent Desmond Tan, one of the officers at the scene, said that on the sixth floor of the block, an officer spotted fresh bloodstains on the padlock of a unit and knocked.

Wang opened the door and told the officers that he had snapped and gone on a killing spree as he could not stand the abuse from the occupants in the flat.

Civil Defense officers broke open the gate and the police detained Wang, who told ASP Tan there was a knife in the washing machine and two knives in the toilet of the master bedroom.

The court also heard, from Lim Chin Chin from the Health Sciences Authority, how Wang had likely gone on his rampage. She reconstructed the crime scene from physical evidence such as bloodstains, without seeing the statements from Wang.

Among other things, she said evidence showed that Zhang and Jianyu were stabbed in Wang's room with a knife with a serrated edge.

Bloodstain patterns showed that Zhang was bleeding profusely in one corner of the room. Lim said Zhang was stabbed first, then Jianyu.

Lim said Wang very likely used the chopper on Meilin as her blood and hair were found on it. As for Yang, Lim said she likely climbed up the kitchen sink and out of the kitchen window.

Bloodstains on the outside wall of the block indicated that Yang's fingers were cut while she was holding on to the laundry pole holders and standing on the narrow concrete ledge outside the kitchen, said Lim.

Yang was unlikely to be bleeding before she climbed out of the window because her dress was not cut and there were no bloodstains on it.

The trial continues today.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.