40 Facts About Mimi Wong

Wong Weng Siu, more commonly known as Mimi Wong, was a Singaporean bar hostess who became the first woman to be sentenced to death and executed for murder in Singapore since its independence.

Mimi Wong, birth name Wong Weng Siu, was born in 1939 at Singapore, Straits Settlements.

Mimi Wong was the offspring of her father's second wife.

Mimi Wong's father died of unknown causes when she was eleven months old.

Mimi Wong did not have a chance to go to school during her childhood.

Mimi Wong started to work at age fourteen, first becoming a factory worker to support herself.

Mimi Wong even ran out of the house numerous times whenever Wong picked up a knife or wooden rod with intent to pick a fight.

Mimi Wong even went as far as to abuse her own mother-in-law, which led to her being considered an "empress daughter-in-law" reminiscent of Wu Zetien.

Mimi Wong's reputation was so huge that she even became the queen of all bar hostesses in Singapore.

In 1966, three years after she first started her bar hostess career, Mimi Wong first met Hiroshi Watanabe, an engineer and high-ranking member of a Japanese corporation.

Simultaneously, in 1968, two years into her relationship with Hiroshi, Mimi Wong met a Hong Kong businessman, who fell for her and started a relationship with Mimi Wong.

Mimi Wong later separated from Hiroshi and stayed together with the Hong Kong businessman.

Mimi Wong temporarily took up a job as a social escort to eke out a living.

Hiroshi could not end the relationship immediately, as he knew that Mimi Wong had a bad temper besides being able to drink a lot of alcohol.

When Mimi Wong became aware of this, Hiroshi was given some hints from Mimi Wong that something drastic would happen to his wife or him or his family if he ever dared to cut off ties with her.

When she received news that Hiroshi's wife would be coming to Singapore with their three kids, Mimi Wong was enraged to hear this and abused Hiroshi.

Gradually, it took some time for Hiroshi to finally persuade Mimi Wong to meet his wife and children.

Mimi Wong went back to her estranged husband Sim Woh Kum, then aged 37, to tell him about her plans to kill Ayako.

Mimi Wong even offered Sim some money if he could help her to do the job.

Mimi Wong asked Hiroshi if he could spend the night with her.

Mimi Wong brought along a pair of gloves and a knife, while Sim took a tin half-filled with toilet-cleaning liquid, in order to pretend to be a toilet cleaner coming to clean the house.

Mimi Wong heard screaming and looked out to see her mother being attacked by both Sim and Wong inside the toilet.

Sim had earlier threw some of the toilet cleaning liquid inside Ayako Watanabe's eyes, and covered her mouth to stop her from shouting, while Mimi Wong used the knife to stab at Ayako.

Quickly, Mimi Wong abandoned the task of stabbing Ayako and covered the little girl's mouth.

Mimi Wong went to her amah to temporarily seek refuge while Sim went to his friend's flat to ask him to rent a room for Mimi Wong.

Mimi Wong went inside the house and was shocked to see his three children crying over the corpse of his deceased wife, which sent the 37-year-old mechanical engineer into hysterics.

Mimi Wong was certain that there were other people in the toilet where they died, thus fitting the notion that Wong and Sim had done the killing together.

Mimi Wong accused her husband for being the sole person who killed Ayako; she said that when she was fighting in the toilet with Ayako, Sim separated them both, and he stabbed the victim when she left the bathroom.

However, the prosecution psychiatrist stated that Mimi Wong was of sound mind when she killed Ayako.

Sim even accused Mimi Wong of being a gang member of the "Red Butterfly" gang, which consisted of female triad members.

Mimi Wong's appeal was first heard in March 1972, with prominent lawyer David Saul Marshall arguing her appeal on her behalf.

Mimi Wong's appeal was heard in the same court as Sim's.

Marshall said there was an error for the judges to determine that Mimi Wong had indeed stabbed Ayako Watanabe with the intention to cause her death or any bodily injury that resulted in death, and thus he said Mimi Wong did not receive a fair trial.

Sim lost his appeal on the same day, as the judges found that he, unlike what his lawyers argued, indeed shared a common intention with Mimi Wong to kill Ayako, and he thus should be guilty of murder.

Mimi Wong's case was assigned to the then-Chief Justice of Singapore Wee Chong Jin, who would fix a date for Mimi Wong to be executed, to which the sentence would be carried out within the next three weeks after a clemency plea is rejected.

Mimi Wong embraced her Protestant faith and spent her time reading the Bible in her cell.

Simultaneously, Mimi Wong was the first woman to be executed in Singapore since its independence from both British colonial rule and Malaysia.

Mimi Wong's case gained notoriety since its occurrence, and it was considered to be one of the most shocking murder cases which Singapore had faced in its years as an independent nation.

Mimi Wong was portrayed by Singaporean actress Eve Ooi, while her husband was portrayed by Singaporean actor Tommy Tan.

For example, Mimi Wong was renamed as Suzie Tay, while Sim was renamed as Lau Teck Seng, and the victim Ayako Watanabe was renamed as Aika Nakamura in this re-enactment.