Singapore's Darkest Ritual: The Toa Payoh Ritual Murders Case
- Apr 14
- 10 min read
In 1981, Singapore faced one of the most gruesome serial killings, when medium Adrian Lim, his wife Catherine Tan, and mistress Hoe Kah Hong kidnapped, tortured and murdered two young children, Agnes Ng and Ghazali Marzuki.
Lim had been under investigation by the police for another criminal offence, and had murdered the two children to distract the police from the case.
Lim’s crimes were discovered when police officers traced a trail of blood leading from Ghazali’s body to Lim’s flat in Toa Payoh. An investigation in Lim's flat revealed evidence linking him to the murder of the two children. Lim, Tan and Hoe were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in 1983. They were hanged in 1988.
The Perpetrators
At the centre of everything was Adrian Lim.
He was not just seen as an ordinary man. He presented himself as a spiritual medium. To some people, he seemed powerful. To others, he seemed strange. But to those who believed him, he was someone they trusted.
Two people became closely involved with him: Hoe Kah Hong & Tan Mui Choo.
Both were deeply influenced by Lim. Over time, they did not just follow him. They started to act with him.
Background Information
Born on 6 January 1942, Adrian Lim was the eldest son of a middle-income family.
He had worked in numerous jobs, including as an informant for the Singapore Internal Security Department.
On April 1967, Lim married his childhood sweetheart with whom he had two children. He converted to Catholicism for his marriage.
Lim and his family lived in rented rooms until 1970, when he purchased a three-room flat. This was the seventh floor unit, unit number 467F, of Block 12, Toa Payoh.
In 1973, Lim started practising part-time as a spirit medium. Lim usually preyed on vulnerable girls and women, often much younger than him, who had very little education and were from abusive or impoverished background.
He rented a room where he attended to the women, most of them introduced to him by his landlord. Lim's customers also included superstitious men and elderly women, who he only cheated of cash.
Claiming he had supernatural powers to solve their problems through rituals, he disguised a "massage" as an attempt to sexually assault his female clients. He would have the woman strip together with him, and would massage her body, then proceeding to rape her. Lim also used electro-shock therapies, which he claimed would cure headaches and drive evil spirits away.
For several years, Adrian Lim had also been performing noisy rituals in the middle of the night. Residents complained several times to the authorities, and though he stopped after being confronted, the rituals would always resume after a short time.
Lim was extremely physically violent towards his partners and would slam their heads against the wall, kicking them and pulling their hair.
Catherine Tan Mui Choo was the eldest of four children. From a young age, she was often neglected by her parents who focused their attention on her brothers
At 17 years old, Tan lost her grandmother, the only family member whom she was close to.
Isolated from family, and young with little education, the teenager started working at a bar to earn a living.
At 20 years old, she was referred by a coworker to Lim for help with depression. Tan started visiting him regularly. In 1975, Lim, then 33 years old, insisted that the 21 year old move into his flat, where he was then living with his then-wife and two children. The wife moved out with their children a few days later, and divorced Lim in 1976.
In June 1977, Lim and Tan registered their marriage.
Lim was extremely abusive towards Tan, regularly torturing her with electric shocks, beatings and threats, and lies. Lim also sexually exploited and financially abused Tan, forcing her into prostitution and taking her earnings.
As a result, Tan went into further depression, experiencing suicidal thoughts and a sense of worthlessness.
Lim also coerced Tan into convincing young females to sleep with him, even extending to Tan's younger siblings. Lim forced Tan's younger sister into having sex with him and forced the girl into prostitution too. Lim also demanded that Tan have sex with younger males too to "preserve her youth".
Born on 10 September 1955, Hoe Kah Hong was the third of six children.
At 8 years old, when her father died, she was sent away from her family to Penang, Malaysia, to live with her aunt.
She returned to the family at 15 years old, and worked as a seamstress.
In 1978, Hoe married Benson Loh Ngak Hua.
In 1979, Hoe's mother brought 24 year old Hoe and her sisters to get treatment from Lim.
Lim used his usual tricks to convince them that he had supernatural powers.
To make Hoe one of his "holy wives", Lim started isolating Hoe from her family through lies, intimidation and abuse. He claimed that she was an illegitimate child, and that her family were immoral people who practised infidelity, and more.
Hoe eventually underwent a mock wedding with Lim who declared her as his "holy wife".
Three months after first meeting Lim, Hoe moved in with him and Tan.
Loh sought out his wife at Lim's flat and Lim murdered Loh.
Lim had convinced Loh to participate in an electro-shock therapy and applied a large voltage to Loh, electrocuting him to death, while Hoe was stunned into unconsciousness.
Lim made Hoe lie to the police that Loh was electrocuted when switching on a faulty electric fan. The police made no further investigations.
Lim later said he killed Loh so he could retain Hoe. He also blamed Hoe for the death, claiming an evil spirit in her had jumped out and killed Loh.
Hoe was deeply affected by Loh's death. She fell into depression and she started hearing voices and having hallucinations of Loh.
Hoe was eventually admitted to the Woodbridge Hospital for psychiatric treatment in May and diagnosed with schizophrenia. By the first week of July, Hoe was discharged.
Hoe moved back in with Lim, who continuously tortured her. Though she continued having follow-up sessions at Woodbridge Hospital, she did not complain or show any symptoms of her condition, and was stated to have been in remission at the time of the killings.
Lim's Rape Charge
Lim continued his trade, tricking more women into giving him money and sex. He would use Tan and Hoe to help convince the women.
In late 1980 he was arrested and charged with raping Lucy Lau Kok Huang, a cosmetic salesgirl who had met Lim when she was promoting beauty products to Tan.
On 19 October, Lim told Lau that a ghost was haunting her, but he could exorcise it with his sex rituals. Lau was unconvinced and Lim decided to drug and rape her instead. For the next few weeks, he continued to abuse her by using drugs or threats.
Lau later filed a police report and Lim was arrested on charges of rape, and Tan for abetting him.
When out on bail, Lim told Hoe to lie that she was present at the apartment when the rape happened but did not see any crime committed. However, this did not heavily affect the investigation.
Lim described this as an inconvenience and he also could not accept that he was accused of rape as he saw himself as a "ladies' man" who was adored by women.
The Murders
Frustrated about the rape investigation, Lim decided to distract the police with a series of child murders. Moreover, he believed that sacrifices of children to the Hindu goddess, Kali, would help him escape the rape charge and other issues.
Lim pretended to be possessed by Kali, and told Tan and Hoe that the goddess wanted them to kill children to seek revenge on Lau.
On 24 January 1981, 9 year old Agnes Ng was waiting at the Church of Risen Christ in Toa Payoh for her sister when Hoe took her. Lim had told Hoe that Agnes would grow up to be evil like her mother and cast spells on others unless she was killed.
The trio gave Agnes food and drink that was laced with drugs. After Agnes became groggy and fell asleep, Lim sexually abused her. They then pricked her finger and each of them took a sip of her blood.
When Agnes went to the toilet after she awoke, they killed her there.
"I immersed her head in the tub of water. Lim stepped on Agnes' body while Catherine held her legs," said Hoe.
They stuffed her body in a bag and dumped it near the lift at Block 11. Hours later, the child was found. Her body was found naked and the investigation revealed injuries to her genitals.
Lim then instructed Hoe that he wanted a boy next, and to find someone with money so he could collect ransom before the murder.
Hoe said she chose Ghazali as he resembled her late husband Loh.
On 6 February 10 year old Ghazali was at a playground when Hoe approached him, asking for help to collect some things from a friend's house. Ghazali agreed to help, and followed her into a taxi.
At the flat, Ghazali was drugged but he took a long time to fall asleep. Lim decided to tie up the boy as a precaution. However, he awoke and started struggling, prompting Lim to knock him out.
After taking his blood, the trio proceeded to drown Ghazali. As Ghazali struggled, he started vomiting before finally dying. Blood continued to stream from his nose after his death.
While Tan stayed behind to clean the flat, Lim and Hoe disposed of the body. The three tried to clean as much bloodstains as they could before sunrise.
Forensics determined the cause of death as drowning, and found suffocation marks similar to those on Ng. Like Ng, his body was left naked. There were no signs of sexual assault, but there were burns on the boy's back and a puncture on his arm.
The Arrest
The police had found a scattered trail of blood that led to the seventh floor of Block 12.
One of the inspectors noticed a mix of religious symbols on the entrance of the first flat. The owner of the flat, Lim, approached the inspectors and introduced himself, informing them that he was living there with his wife, Tan, and a girlfriend, Hoe.
Permitted by Lim to search his flat, the police found traces of blood. Lim initially tried to claim that the stains were from candle wax, but when challenged further, he then stated that they were chicken blood.
Lim also removed hair from under a carpet and tried to flush it down the toilet, but the inspectors stopped him (forensics later determined the hair to be Ng's).
Requesting a background check on Lim, Pereira received word from local officers that Lim was currently involved in a rape investigation. Lim overheard them and became agitated, raising his voice at them. Hoe also started getting agitated.
The police collected the evidence, sealed the flat as a crime scene, and arrested the trio, taking them in for questioning.
Psychological Factors
Delusions of spiritual power
Adrian claimed that he could communicate with spirits and perform rituals
He staged fake rituals to convince victims he had supernatural powers
He told followers that spirits demanded sexual acts and sacrifices
Evidence suggested Adrian knew what he was doing, meaning these “beliefs” were likely manipulative tools rather than true psychosis.
Cult Mentality
Even though the group was small, they functioned like a mini cult led by Adrian
He isolated the women and called them “holy wives”
He controlled their finances, relationships and their actions, including their participation in abuse and murder
Lim's coercive control of Tan and Hoe led to their gradual loss of independence
Dependency creation: Tan and Hoe relied on him emotionally and spiritually
Fear conditioning: Threats of spiritual harm if they disobeyed
The Trial
Lim, Tan, and Hoe were arrested and charged with the murders of two children. They were interrogated by police and underwent medical examinations. On 16-17 September 1981, a hearing was held to decide if there was enough evidence for trial.
Lim pleaded guilty and claimed he alone was responsible. Tan & Hoe denied the murder charges.
Despite the differences in claims, the court ruled there was sufficient evidence for a High Court trial.
Lim initially refused legal help.
All three defence teams did not deny the killings but argued that the accused were mentally unstable. If they were successful, the charge could be reduced from murder to culpable homicide (manslaughter), which meant life imprisonment or up to 10 years jail instead of the mandatory death penalty.
The prosecution focused on showing that the acts were intentional and that all three accused were involved with clear intent to kill.
The defence tried to argue that all three had mental impairments. If this had been accepted, it could have reduced their responsibility.
Tan had reactive psychotic depression and suffered long-term abuse, was forced into prostitution, and partook in drug use that caused hallucinations.
Hoe had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and condition worsened due to abuse. She claimed that she believed the killings had a religious purpose.
Lim claimed to have mild manic depression and delusions of religion. His argument was that only a mentally unsound person would kill near his own home and act irrationally.
However, the court did not agree.
Medical experts found that Lim understood what he was doing. He knew the consequences of his actions.
Hoe and Tan were also found guilty. Even though they were influenced, the court decided they still made conscious choices.
All three were convicted of murder, with mental illness defence rejected by the judge.
At that time in Singapore, murder carried a mandatory death sentence.
They were later executed on 25 November 1988.
Timeline
1973
Adrian Lim begins working as a spirit medium and abusing clients
1977
Lim marries Catherine Tan Mui Choo. Tan becomes increasingly controlled, abused, and exploited by Lim.
1979
Hoe Kah Hong is introduced to Lim for spiritual treatment. She is manipulated into believing she is one of Lim’s “holy wives” and moves in with him and Tan.
1980
Lim is arrested for the rape of Lucy Lau Kok Huang. While out on bail, he begins planning further crimes to distract the police.
24 Jan 1981
9 year old Agnes Ng is abducted, drugged, abused, and murdered in Lim’s flat.
6 Feb 1981
10 year old Ghazali Marzuki is lured to Lim’s flat, drugged, and murdered.
After 6 Feb 1981
Police trace a blood trail to Lim’s flat. Evidence is found linking Lim, Tan, and Hoe to the killings. All three are arrested.
1981-1983
Trial takes place. Defence argues mental illness and coercion, but court finds all three responsible. All are convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
25 Nov 1988
Lim, Tan and Hoe are executed by hanging.
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