SINGAPORE — A married man wanted his lover’s new boyfriend out of her life, so he decided to hire hitmen on the dark web to kill his rival in a staged car accident last year.

Allen Vincent Hui Kim Seng paid more than S$8,000 in bitcoin to a website called Camorra Hitmen for the job, but was arrested before his plan could be carried out.

Ten days before the scheduled hit, a journalist with the American television network CBS told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the plan targeting a Singaporean.

On Monday (Sept 9), Deputy Public Prosecutors Kumaresan Gohulabalan and Grace Chua sought at least five years’ jail for Hui. 

His lawyer Lee Teck Seng argued for half of that instead.

District Judge Shaifuddin Saruwan adjourned sentencing to Sept 18. Hui remains in remand.

He pleaded guilty in July to abetting the murder of the other man, 30-year-old Tan Han Shen, by instigating Camorra Hitmen to kill him. 

Hui could be jailed for up to seven years and fined for the offence.

Another charge of criminal intimidation will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

‘PLANNED IN COLD BLOOD’

The prosecution noted that Hui’s actions were “carefully premeditated and planned in cold blood”, and he had taken “calculated steps” to hide any trace of his crimes by leveraging the anonymity of the dark web.

It was also “extremely dangerous” to rely on articles suggesting that Camorra Hitmen was a scam, as no one knew that for a fact and it was “impossible” to trace the identities of those behind the website, DPP Kumaresan said.

Wired magazine reported last year that Camorra Hitmen was a scam site.

“It was purely fortuitous that the murder was not carried out. (Hui) did everything in his power to ensure that it would be a success,” the prosecutor added.

Mr Lee, however, told District Judge Shaifuddin that his client was not an “evil and cold-blooded would-be murderer”.

Hui had been depressed before and during the offence, having considered suicide, and he had only intended to maim Mr Tan from the beginning, Mr Lee argued.

The lawyer also noted that many articles have referenced Camorra Hitmen to being a scam site, with a vigilante named Chris Monteiro telling Wired how it was fraudulent. Mr Monteiro then tipped off CBS, who told the police.

“Since Camorra Hitmen was a scam, it must follow that (Hui’s) objective was an improbability,” Mr Lee said.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that Hui — a risk management executive at the time — met Ms Ng Woan Man, now 30, at their workplace in 2016. 

They began having an affair in April that year, continuing even after Hui left the company in November. She broke up with him in February 2018 after realising he was not going to leave his wife, with whom he has a young daughter.

Ms Ng and Hui remained on talking terms and he continued pursuing her, despite her rebuffs. He added her as a beneficiary to his Central Provident Fund account and life insurance policy, among others.

She then began working at a different company and started dating Mr Tan in April 2018, but not before casually mentioning to Hui that she was contemplating being with the other man.

Growing jealous, Hui stalked Mr Tan and monitored Ms Ng’s social media accounts. 

While searching online for “hitmen for hire”, Hui was directed to download the Tor browser in order to access the dark web. He then came across Camorra Hitmen.

On April 28, 2018, while Ms Ng was out on a date with Mr Tan, Hui sent her a text message via WhatsApp asking if she was out with a male companion and ordered her to return to the flat they shared within 15 minutes.

He also said he would be waiting for her and that “he better don’t be there, else I will kill him”. 

About a week later, he decided on the hit job.

Hui did research on how to buy and trade in bitcoin — the currency Camorra Hitmen used. On May 6, 2018, he sent them her particulars, telling them to cut off her new boyfriend’s right hand.

He also tried to get as many details on Mr Tan, such as his car plate number, so he could send them to Camorra Hitmen to facilitate the hit.

Hui then decided to change the hit and told Camorra Hitmen to pour acid on the target’s face instead.

Later, he eventually agreed to kill Mr Tan in a staged car accident. But he found the kill job too expensive and asked if Camorra Hitmen could change it to a freak accident that would leave Mr Tan crippled or in a wheelchair for life. 

A few hours later, Hui changed his mind again.

He ordered the fatal hit to take place at about 8pm on May 22, 2018. He knew Mr Tan would be dropping Ms Ng off at the airport before that and he did not want her to be injured.

Hui also instructed Camorra Hitmen to remove all its online communications with him so his crimes could not be traced.