Teoh’s fiancée breaks down in court

By Teoh El Sen | May 9, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) investigating the death of Teoh Beng Hock today saw an emotional Soh Cher Wei, Teoh’s fiancée, give a tearful testimony on the man’s character.

Soh, a 30-year-old teacher from Johor, sobbed when she told the court that Teoh’s hobby was cooking and struggled to control her emotions when commissioner forensic psychiatrist Dr Mohd Hatta Shaharom asked her: “Your relationship with Teoh is considered love. What is the meaning of love to you?”

“It’s that the person will be with me until the very end. That’s my answer,” said Soh, who sobbed in-between her words and wiped her tears away with a tissue.

Hatta: What do you like about Teoh?

Soh: He is a person who is good. He loves me and his family.

Hatta: What do you not like about Teoh?

Soh: He can be very noisy sometimes (laughs).

Hatta: What makes him happy?

Soh: Maybe when he gets to cook together with me.

Hatta: What makes him angry?

Soh: I’m not sure. I don’t think there’s anything. He is not easily angered.

Hatta: What makes him sad? Or cry?

Soh: I have never seen him cry or sad.

Hatta: If you were not pregnant, would he have proposed to you?

Soh: Yes.

Hatta: Why?

Soh: I know, I just feel it.

Earlier, Soh, who is appearing for the first time in open court, said she had known Teoh for five years and had been his housemate when he was a reporter at a rented house in Kajang in 2005.

“When I just knew him. I think that he is a person who loved his family very much and he would call his mother almost every day. And he would return home to Malacca every week,” she said.

Soh said that she became his girlfriend since 2007.

Teoh had shifted to Puchong when he become the political secretary to Seri Kembangan state assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah in 2009.

She said that he first suggested marriage in January 2009, but she added that she was still thinking about it then. Later when she was pregnant, they planned to get married on Oct 3 of that year.

Soh said that when they found out she was pregnant around June 2009, Teoh was not worried but was very happy.

She said that Teoh’s family was also very happy to hear about it.

“I told him not to tell them first… but he had already told his father,” she said.

Soh, who gave birth to Teoh’s son in February last year, said Teoh had plans to return to his hometown in Malacca after the wedding, and perhaps to start his own business or work with another politician.

She said that Teoh had never complained about his work and felt that he was happy at his job.

She added that Teoh loved to cook and his cooking was better than hers.

She said she seldom got angry at Teoh but when she did, he would stay silent.

She said she was not aware of the investigations of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Pakatan Rakyat representatives and she did not know that Teoh had gone to Plaza Masalam. He seldom told her about politics or work, she said.

She last saw him the weekend prior to his death, and his family visited hers in Johor to discuss wedding plans.

Soh said Teoh and her were supposed to have taken their wedding photos the Saturday after he died. They had already booked a restaurant and had already paid for 25 tables.

Soh also said that Teoh was not the type who was afraid or concerned about what people thought of him.

It was widely reported that Teoh had planned to register his marriage with Soh, then 28, the day he died. But Soh today said that the date for registration of their marriage had not been planned.

Soh married Teoh posthumously in a Chinese ceremony on Aug 15, 2009 and gave birth to a son, Teoh Er Jia, who is now 15 months old. Outside the court, she was seen carrying and playing with the baby together with Teoh’s family.