Was hotel's low window ledge a factor? But Cambodian police say he bought and took Ecstasy that night November 29, 2008 By Chong Shin Yen
Electric New Paper (Singapore)
He had returned to his hotel room with his Vietnamese girlfriend after a night of alcohol-fuelled partying.
About an hour later, Singaporean Jeff Lee Say Kah, 41, was found dead at the fifth-floor parapet of Naga World Resort, a hotel and casino complex in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The father of three had fallen from the window of his hotel room on the ninth floor.
But the circumstances of how he fell remain a mystery.
The New Paper saw the investigation report which the Cambodian police handed to the family.
It stated that officers had found a white powdery substance in the room and some pink and green pills.
The Cambodian police also told The Phnom Penh Post that hours before his death, Mr Lee had bought and taken Ecstasy.
But Mr Jason Lee, 46, denied that his younger brother had taken drugs and had been high.
He told The New Paper that his brother, a port captain at a shipping company, could have accidentally fallen while he was smoking at the window.
Mr Lee, an operations manager, said: 'The window of the hotel was not locked and could be opened outwards.
'He could have been sitting on the window ledge and leaning against the window when it gave way.'
The brothers went to Phnom Penh on 21 Nov for a holiday, checking into two rooms at the five-star hotel.
Said Mr Lee: 'We always stayed at that hotel as we had enjoyed our stays there previously.'
They holidayed there every few months and have been there more than 10 times.
Mr Lee also said that he and his brother are smokers and they have a habit of opening their hotel room windows when they smoke in the room.
'The window ledge was only 80cm from the ground. This is very low and a person can easily fall over if he is not careful,' he said.
The two men had gone to a discotheque near Wat Phnom with a group of friends from Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia on Saturday, the night before Mr Lee's death.
Mr Lee said: 'The group of us had a lot of fun and drank about 30 cans of beer and a bottle of whisky.
'My brother was also high on alcohol when we returned to the hotel at 6am the next morning. But he wasn't dead drunk. He could still talk to me.
'Before we went to our respective rooms, he told me he would call the receptionist to change our afternoon flight to Singapore that day to the next day.
'He even told me to 'have a good rest', recalled Mr Lee.
'I didn't expect them to be his last words to me,' he said.
That morning, at about 8am, Mr Lee was woken up by someone knocking on his door.
'The security officer told me that my brother had been found dead on the fifth floor. I was only allowed to see his body at about 1pm,' said Mr Lee.
'I was shocked as the officer could not tell me what had happened. My brother was his usual jovial self when we parted.'
Ashtray near window
Mr Lee added that his brother had bathed and changed into a T-shirt and shorts before he fell.
An ashtray and a glass of water was on the table beside the open window in his room.
The Cambodian police told The Phnom Penh Post that a Vietnamese woman, 33, believed to be Mr Jeff Lee's lover, was in his room at that time.
But she was sleeping and was unaware of what happened until hotel staff knocked on the door.
The police have ruled out foul play.
Mr Lee did not want to comment on whether his brother went back to his hotel room with the Vietnamese girl.
He also denied that his brother had taken illegal drugs.
Sleeping pills
He said his brother had taken sleeping pills with him from Singapore as he had sleeping problems due to work stress.
Mr Lee didn't rule out the possibility that his brother could have fallen out the window because he was drunk.
But he ruled out the possibility that his brother had taken his own life.
He described his brother as jovial, happy-go-lucky and caring.
On the day they arrived, he added, they had gone to the casino, where his brother had won about US$100 ($151).
Mr Jeff Lee leaves behind his wife, an 11-year-old son and 10-year-old twin boys.
Said Mr Lee: 'He was a loving husband and a doting father. He had made plans to take his family on a three-day holiday to Genting Highlands in December.
'It's the school holidays and he wanted his kids to have some fun. He had also just bought a new car two weeks ago.'
Mr Lee said that his brother's wife, Madam Gena Ng, 38, a secretary, rushed to Phnom Penh with the couple's eldest son after he called her and told her the news.
'She had been crying non-stop since she arrived at the hotel because she was unable to accept his death,' said Mr Lee.
They brought his body back to Singapore on Wednesday.
The wake is at Block 933, Jurong West Street 91 and the funeral will be held tomorrow.
Mr Lee said that his brother had bought a bottle of perfume for his wife and some small pillows for his children at Phnom Penh airport.
'He never forgot to buy gifts for them whenever he went overseas,' said Mr Lee.
'But this time, he never got to give them to his family.'
