SOURCE: The Straits Times

HIS wife’s schizophrenia was a factor that led once-prominent psychiatrist Wong Yip Chong to start a relationship with his then clinic assistant, who went on to become his long-time mistress, the High Court heard yesterday.

Despite his relationship with Madam Patricia Ling Ai Wah, Dr Wong promised his wife that he would not divorce her and that he would take care of her.

This emerged when the lawyer for Madam Ling’s son with Dr Wong sought to show that because she had no legal rights, being “the other woman”, the psychiatrist had reassured her that he would give her the house that is now at the centre of the suit.

Dr Wong’s sons from his wife – neurologist Meng Cheong, 54, and locum general practitioner Meng Leong, 49 – have sued Madam Ling.

They contend that Dr Wong, now 82 and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, was mentally incapable of understanding a transfer document he signed in 2004 making her joint owner of the Chancery Hill Road house now valued at $7 million.

They want the document declared null and void. Alternatively, if the transfer was held to be valid, they want the ownership of the house to be converted from a joint tenancy to a tenancy-in-common.

A property under joint tenancy can be sold only if both owners agree; when one owner dies, the other inherits his share.

Under tenancy-in-common, each owner can sell his share of the property.

Madam Ling’s son with Dr Wong, Mr Meng Weng, 35, is also named as a defendant in the suit.

Dr Meng Leong, cross-examined by Mr Meng Weng’s lawyer, Mr Daniel Koh, admitted that his mother was on medication for schizophrenia and “had an episode when she was younger”.

Mr Koh referred Dr Meng Leong to a letter which Dr Wong wrote to the Singapore Children’s Society in 1976, opposing a move by the Registrar of Births to make it compulsory for illegitimate children to have double surnames.

In the letter, Dr Wong said that while illegitimacy was not to be encouraged, some marriages fail, citing reasons including “incurable illness, especially mental”.

Questioned by Mr Koh, Dr Meng Leong agreed that the “incurable illness” had contributed to his father finding companionship with Madam Ling.

Mr Koh suggested that, having spent decades with Dr Wong, it was only natural for her to plan financially for herself and her son.

Dr Meng Leong replied: “Yes, it’s natural for anyone. We are worried she plans too much.”

Mr Koh referred to a note Dr Wong had written in September 2003, in which he wrote about giving the house to Madam Ling. The court heard that the note had phrases like “give her an undertaking”, “giving house to her is straightforward during my lifetime. MC can persuade me to mortgage to bank”, and “one way to reassure her...”

Mr Koh asserted that Dr Wong used the word “reassure” as opposed to “placate” or “pacify”, which showed that he would give the house to her out of love.

Also taking the stand yesterday was Dr Wong’s third son, Hong Kong-based psychiatrist Meng Kong, 47.

Dr Meng Kong said in his affidavit that since 1998, his father had had “bouts of hesitation and confusion”.

When questioning Dr Meng Kong, Madam Ling’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Cavinder Bull, pointed out that Dr Wong was carrying out electroconvulsive therapy – applying an electric current to a patient’s head – up to 2003.

Mr Bull put it to Dr Meng Kong that if his father was confused, he would, as a doctor and as his son, have stopped him.

To this, Dr Meng Kong replied: “I believed I contributed to a process where certain measures were done to evaluate risk.”

Mr Bull put it to him that he was grossly exaggerating his father’s mental state. Dr Meng Kong disagreed, saying it was a gradual decline.

The case, which was in its fourth day, is scheduled for 12 days. Dr Meng Kong continues on the stand today.