Sek Kim Wah was born in Singapore between March and July of 1964 into a deeply fractured and dysfunctional family. His father, Sek Yuon Chin, was a compulsive gambler who was often absent from the home and eventually left the family for a mistress when Sek was just nine years old. His mother, Hoh Mooi Chai, later abandoned the family as well, entering into a relationship with a married man. After a bitter conflict with her own parents, Sek and his three siblings became completely estranged from their extended family. The children were left to fend for themselves, often resorting to petty theft just to survive.

Sek attended only four years of primary school before dropping out due to financial strain. His early years were marked by behavioral problems. His sister testified that he was obsessed with martial arts fiction and Kungfu movies and even molested their younger sister when he was twelve. Sek also reportedly engaged in self-harm, saying he found pain “thrilling.” Both he and his older brother were known to fight with other children, and at one point, they were chained at home as punishment for stealing a bicycle.

While his brother eventually turned his life around, Sek spiraled further into criminality. At age 13, he joined a gang known as Gi It San and was sentenced to four years in a boys’ home for theft in 1979. After being paroled in 1981, Sek entered the Singapore Armed Forces for National Service. By this point, he had already begun planning acts of extreme violence. During his time in the boys’ home, Sek was assigned to do gardening work at the residence of businessman Robert Tay.

Sek Kim Wah’s killing spree began on June 30, 1983, with a brutal double murder in East Coast Park. He strangled 42-year-old illegal bookmaker Lim Khee Sin and his 32-year-old girlfriend Ong Ah Hong. Their bodies were later dumped at Seletar Reservoir. At the time, the murders remained unsolved — until Sek confessed to them after being arrested for a much more publicized triple homicide.

On July 23, 1983, just weeks after the East Coast murders, Sek carried out a deadly home invasion with a recent acquaintance, 19-year-old Malaysian national Nyu Kok Meng. Sek targeted the home of Robert Tay, a wealthy businessman whose house he had once worked at. The victims were Tay, his 28-year-old employee Jovita Virador, and 27-year-old Annie Low, Tay’s girlfriend. All three were held hostage in Tay’s bungalow along Andrew Road.

The break-in quickly turned into a massacre. Tay was bludgeoned to death with a dumbbell, sustaining a fatal skull fracture. The two women were strangled with great force. Sek and Nyu ransacked the house and attempted to cash one of Tay’s cheques the next day. Their suspicious behavior at the bank led to a police alert.

In a strange twist, Nyu later surrendered himself to police. His cooperation and remorse spared him from the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison with six strokes of the cane for armed robbery and later released in the late 1990s.

Sek, however, made no such gestures. During the trial, he bragged about the murders to a lounge hostess named Lily Tay, describing the thrill he felt while strangling his victims. He even boasted about killing five people and expressed admiration for criminals like Lim Ban Lim. Sek's desire for attention was so intense that he compared himself to the fictional hero Rambo, claiming he wanted to kill at least 15 policemen.

His trial began on July 22, 1985, and lasted 17 days. He initially blamed his accomplice Nyu for one of the murders, but eventually admitted to all three. Sek claimed diminished responsibility due to mental illness, citing childhood trauma, rejection, and lack of parental care. Psychiatric experts presented conflicting testimonies. Two defense psychiatrists diagnosed him with antisocial and psychopathic personality disorders, noting his high IQ and childhood abuse. In contrast, the government psychiatrist testified that Sek was lucid, calculating, and in full control during the killings.

The judges rejected Sek’s claim of diminished responsibility and sentenced him to death on August 14, 1985. Sek welcomed the verdict, reportedly smiling and thanking the judges in Cantonese. He said he found the idea of being hanged “thrilling.” He appealed the decision in March 1987, but the Court of Appeal upheld the original verdict, stating that the trial judges were entitled to reject the psychiatric defense. Sek remained calm throughout the proceedings.

On December 9, 1988, Sek Kim Wah was hanged at Changi Prison. He was 24 years old. His execution occurred just two weeks after the hanging of Adrian Lim and his two accomplices for the Toa Payoh ritual murders. Despite his request for his ashes to be scattered at sea, they were instead stored in an urn at Siong Lim Temple in Toa Payoh. His family held a simple Taoist funeral ceremony, attended by his parents and siblings.