Capital punishment in Singapore

The people on death row include foreign nationals, many of whom were convicted of drug-related offences. These inmates come from a diverse range of countries, including the United States, Australia, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. Figures released by the Singapore government show that between 1993 and 2003, 36% of those executed were foreigners, including some residents in Singapore (half of Singapore residents are foreigners).[21]

Under the Penal Code,[40] the commission of the following offences may result in the death penalty:

• Waging or attempting to wage war or abetting the waging of war against the government (§121)
• Offences against the president's person (in other words, treason) (§121A)
• Piracy that endangers life (§130B) (mandatory)
• Genocide resulting in death (§130E) (mandatory)
• Abetting of mutiny (§132)
• Perjury that results in the execution of an innocent person (§194)
• Murder (§302) (mandatory for S300(a) of the Penal Code; discretionary for S300(b), S300(c) and S300(d) of the Penal Code)
• Abetting the suicide of a person under the age of 18 or an "insane" person (§305)
• Attempted murder by a prisoner serving a life sentence (§307 (2)) (mandatory)
• Kidnapping in order to commit murder (§364)
• Robbery committed by five or more people that results in the death of a person (§396)

Since the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2007,[41] Singapore no longer allows for the death penalty for rape nor mutiny.

The Arms Offences Act under Singapore law regulates criminal offences dealing with firearms and weapons.[42] Any person who uses or attempts to use arms (Section 4) can face execution, as well as any person who uses or attempts to use arms to commit scheduled offences (Section 4A). These scheduled offences are being a member of an unlawful assembly; rioting; certain offences against the person; abduction or kidnapping; extortion; burglary; robbery; preventing or resisting arrest; vandalism; mischief. Any person who is an accomplice (Section 5) to a person convicted of arms use during a scheduled offence can likewise be executed.

Trafficking in arms (Section 6) is a capital offence in Singapore. Under the Arms Offences Act, trafficking is defined as being in unlawful possession of more than two firearms.

The Singapore embarkation card contains a warning to visitors about the death penalty for drug trafficking. Warning signs can also be found at the Johor-Singapore Causeway and other border entries.

Under Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act,[43][44] any person importing, exporting, or found in possession of more than the following quantities of drugs receives a mandatory death sentence:

• 1200 grams of opium and containing more than 30 grams of morphine (§5 and §7, (2)(b));
• 30 grams of morphine (§5 and §7, (3)(b));
• 15 grams of diamorphine (heroin) (diamo (§5 and §7, (4)(b));
• 30 grams of cocaine (§5 and §7, (5)(b));
• 500 grams of cannabis (§5 and §7, (6)(b));
• 1000 grams of cannabis mixture (§5 and §7, (7)(b));
• 200 grams of cannabis resin (§5 and §7, (8)(b));
• 250 grams of methamphetamine (§5 and §7, (9)(b)).

Death sentences are also mandatory for any person caught manufacturing :

• Morphine, or any salt of morphine, ester of morphine or salt of ester of morphine (§6, (2));
• Diamorphine (heroin) or any salt of diamorphine (§6, (3));
• Cocaine or any salt of cocaine (§6, (4));
• Methamphetamine (§6, (5)).

Under the Act:

any person who is proved to have had in his possession or custody or under his control —

1. anything containing a controlled drug;
2. the keys of anything containing a controlled drug;
3. the keys of any place or premises or any part thereof in which a controlled drug is found; or
4. a document of title relating to a controlled drug or any other document intended for the delivery of a controlled drug,

shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have had that drug in his possession.

Furthermore, any person who has a controlled drug in his possession shall be presumed to have known the nature of that drug.

The majority of executions in Singapore are for drug offences. Since 2010, 23 prisoners have been executed for drug offences, while only 5 have been executed for other offences, such as murder. Death penalty supporters, such as the blogger Benjamin Chang, claim that Singapore has one of the lowest prevalence of drug abuse worldwide: he claims, for instance, that over two decades, the number of drug abusers arrested each year has declined by two-thirds, from over 6,000 in the early 1990s to about 2,000 in 2011.[45] The validity of these figures is disputed by other Singaporeans, such as the Singaporean drugs counsellor Tony Tan.[46] The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime notes that Singapore remains a transit destination for drug traffickers in Asia, drug seizures continue to increase and heroin drug use within Singapore is continuing to rise.[47]

The preamble of the Internal Security Act states that it is an Act to "provide for the internal security of Singapore, preventive detention, the prevention of subversion, the suppression of organised violence against persons and property in specified areas of Singapore, and for matters incidental thereto".[48] The President of Singapore has the power to designate certain security areas. Any person caught in the possession or with someone in possession of firearms, ammunition or explosives in a security area can be punished by death.

The terms of the Kidnapping Act designate abduction, wrongful restraint or wrongful confinement for ransom as capital offences.[49]

In December 2005, the Law Society revealed that it has set up a committee, named Review Committee on Capital Punishment, to examine capital punishment in the country. The President of the Society, Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam, said that the main focus of the review was on issues regarding administering the death penalty such as whether it should be mandatory. A report of the review would be submitted to the Ministry of Law.[62] On 6 November 2006, they were invited to give its views on proposed amendments to the Penal Code to the Ministry of Home Affairs. In their report, issued on 30 March 2007, they argued against the mandatory death penalty:

The death penalty should be discretionary for the offences where the death sentence is mandatory – murder, drug trafficking, firearms offences and sedition – a position similar to that for the offence of kidnapping. There are strong arguments for changing the mandatory nature of capital punishment in Singapore. Judges should be given the discretion to impose the death penalty only where deemed appropriate.[63]

The Singapore government states that the death penalty is only used in the most serious of crimes, sending, they say, a strong message to potential offenders. They point out that in 1994 and 1999 the United Nations General Assembly failed to adopt resolutions calling for a moratorium on the death penalty worldwide, as a majority of countries opposed such a move.[38]

Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations wrote a letter to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions in 2001 which stated:

"... the death penalty is primarily a criminal justice issue, and therefore is a question for the sovereign jurisdiction of each country [...] the right to life is not the only right, and [...] it is the duty of societies and governments to decide how to balance competing rights against each other."[3]

In January 2004, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a response to Amnesty International's report, "Singapore: The death penalty - A hidden toll of executions". It defended Singapore's policy to retain the death penalty, predicating its arguments on, among others, the following grounds:[38]

• There is no international consensus on whether the death penalty should be abolished.
• Each country has the sovereign right to decide on its own judicial system, taking into account its own circumstances.
• The death penalty has been effective in keeping Singapore one of the safest places in the world to work and live in.
• The application of the death penalty is only reserved for "very serious crimes".

The Ministry of Home Affairs also refuted Amnesty International's claims of the majority of the executed being foreigners, and that it was "mostly the poor, least educated, and vulnerable people who are executed". The Ministry stated: "Singaporeans, and not foreigners, were the majority of those executed... Of those executed from 1993 to 2003, 95% were above 21 years of age, and 80% had received formal education. About 80% of those who had been sentenced to capital punishment had employment before their convictions."[38]

Following the hanging of Van Tuong Nguyen in 2005, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reiterated the government's position, stating that "The evil inflicted on thousands of people with drug trafficking demands that we must tackle the source by punishing the traffickers rather than trying to pick up the pieces afterwards... It's a law which is approved of by Singapore's inhabitants and which allows us to reduce the drug problem."[64]

Prior to the United Nations General Assembly's voting on a moratorium on the death penalty in November 2007, Singapore's ambassador Vanu Gopala Menon said, "My delegation would like to remind this committee that capital punishment is not prohibited under international law. Yet it is clear that the sponsors of this draft resolution have decided that there can only be one view on capital punishment, and that only one set of choices should be respected... [the death penalty] is an important component of the administration of law and our justice system, and is imposed only for the most serious crimes and serves as a deterrent. We have proper legal safeguards in place to prevent any miscarriage of justice."[65]

In the most recent news, in October 2020, Law Minister K. Shanmugam emphasised that the death penalty is a powerful deterrent to capital crimes in Singapore. He cited the statistics of the rate of firearms-related offences and kidnapping cases had dropped dramatically after the introduction of the death penalty as evidence of its deterrence. Shanmugam also cited that after the government mandates the death penalty since 1991, the average net amount of opium trafficked dropped by 66% and many drug traffickers are illegally transporting less and less amounts of drugs to avoid the punishment. The government conducted surveys on Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans, and the majority of both groups responded that the death penalty is more effective than life imprisonment in discouraging people from committing capital offences.[66]

• Tan Kheng Ann (alias Robert Black), the mastermind of the Pulau Senang riot, where 70 to 90 inmates led by Tan, started a riot which destroyed and burned everything the inmates had built on Pulau Senang. During the riot, prison officer Daniel Stanley Dutton and his three assistants - Arumugan Veerasingham, Tan Kok Hian and Chok Kok Hong were murdered by the rioters, including Tan. Tan and 17 others were found guilty of murder in a specially-conducted jury trial and hanged in 1965 while the others were either acquitted of all criminal charges or jailed between 2 and 3 years for rioting.[69][70]
• Usman bin Haji Muhammad Ali and Harun Thohir, two Indonesian marines who were convicted of murder and executed on 17 October 1968 for the 1965 MacDonald House bombing which killed three people.
• Andrew Chou Hock Guan, his brother, and five other accomplices were executed on 28 February 1975 for the Gold Bars Triple Murders.[71][72][73]
• Ong Hwee Kuan, Ong Chin Hock and Yeo Ching Boon, three youths all of the same age of 26, were hanged on 24 February 1984 for the robbery, kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old policeman Lee Kim Lai on 25 April 1978.[74][75]
• Adrian Lim, Tan Mui Choo, and Hoe Kah Hong were executed on 25 November 1988 for the 1981 Toa Payoh ritual murders of a nine-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy.
• Sek Kim Wah, hanged on 9 December 1988 for the 1983 Andrew Road triple murders and used a rifle to commit robbery at the same time. He was also responsible for a double murder near Seletar Road.[76][77]
• Vasavan Sathiadew (a.k.a. Augustine Tan Kim Siah), and his two Thai accomplices were hanged on 23 October 1992 for the 1984 revenge murder of Vasavan's foster brother Frankie Tan Tik Siah. The murder was known as Murder of Amex banker in Singapore's local newspapers.[78]
• Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino domestic worker executed in March 1995 for murdering another Filipino domestic worker and a four-year-old boy.
• John Martin Scripps, a British spree killer hanged in April 1996 for murdering three tourists. He was the first Briton to be executed in Singapore since the country gained independence in 1965.
• Anthony Ler Wee Teang, was executed on 13 December 2002 for the contract killing of his wife Annie Leong Wai Mun.[79]
• Took Leng How, a Malaysian-born vegetable packer hanged in November 2006 for the 2004 murder of Huang Na, an eight-year-old girl from China.
• Mohammed Ali bin Johari, who was executed on 19 December 2008 for the 2006 child rape and murder of his step-daughter Nuraysura binte Mohamed Fauzi, also known as Nonoi.[80]
• Kho Jabing, a Malaysian who was executed on 20 May 2016 for the 2008 robbery and murder of 40-year-old Chinese construction worker Cao Ruyin; another unnamed death row inmate was executed on the same day as Kho Jabing.
• Micheal Anak Garing, a Malaysian who was being put to death on 22 March 2019 for the murder of construction worker Shanmuganathan Dillidurai during an armed robbery as part of the 2010 Kallang Slashings.[81][82]
• Iskandar bin Rahmat, a former police officer who was sentenced to death in December 2015 for the Kovan Double Murders of 67-year-old Tan Boon Sin and his 42-year-old eldest son Tan Chee Heong during a robbery in July 2013. Iskandar is currently awaiting execution as of February 2021.[83][84]

• Johannes van Damme, a Dutch engineer and drug trafficker executed on 23 September 1994 for smuggling heroin. He was the first European to be executed in Singapore since the country gained independence in 1965.
• Shanmugam Murugesu, a drug trafficker executed in May 2005 for smuggling cannabis.[85]
• Van Tuong Nguyen, a Vietnamese-Australian drug trafficker executed in December 2005 for smuggling heroin.
• Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, a Nigerian drug trafficker, executed in January 2007 for smuggling diamorphine.
• Chijioke Stephen Obioha, a Nigerian who was sentenced to death for importing cannabis into Singapore. He was hanged on 18 November 2016, together with another drug trafficker.

In July 2012, the government decided to make a review of the mandatory death penalty applied to certain drug trafficking or murder offences. In the midst of this review, a moratorium was imposed on all the 35 pending executions in Singapore at that time (7 for murder and 28 for drug trafficking). During that period of the review of the mandatory death penalty, one convicted murderer named Pathip Selvan s/o Sugumaran (who made headlines for the violent murder of his 18-year-old girlfriend in 2008) won his appeal in October 2012 and was instead sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for culpable homicide;[86][87] a Chinese national named Wang Zhijian, the culprit of the 2008 high-profile Yishun triple murders case, was sentenced to death for a conviction of murder under Section 300(a) of the Penal Code in November 2012 (he is presumably executed since 2014 after the dismissal of his appeal),[88][89] and another unnamed death row convict died of natural causes while in prison.[90]

In January 2013, the law was amended to make the death penalty no longer mandatory for certain capital offences. The judges in Singapore were given a discretion to impose a sentence of life imprisonment with mandatory caning for offenders who commit murder but had no intention to kill, which came under Sections 300(b), 300(c) and 300(d) of the Penal Code (the death penalty remains mandatory only for murder offences committed with intention to kill, which came under section 300(a) of the Penal Code). This discretion is similarly applied to those convicted of drug trafficking, provided that they only act as couriers, suffering from impaired mental responsibility (e.g. depression), substantively assisting the authorities in tackling drug trafficking activities or any other conditions. For drug traffickers who were not being condemned to death but to life-long incarceration with caning, they should receive not less than 15 strokes of the cane. Despite this discretion, a sentence of life imprisonment is the mandatory minimum penalty one will face for capital murder or drug trafficking offences in these circumstances.

The first person to be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for a capital offence under the amended death penalty laws was 30-year-old Singaporean drug trafficker Abdul Haleem bin Abdul Karim on 10 April 2013; he was certified to have been acting as courier and assisted the authorities in disrupting the drug trafficking activities after both his and his accomplice's arrest on 6 May 2010 for trafficking in 72.5 g of pure heroin. In addition to his life sentence, Abdul Haleem, who pleaded guilty to two charges of drug trafficking, was also given the maximum of 24 strokes of the cane.[91][92] Abdul Haleem's accomplice and friend, 28-year-old Muhammad Ridzuan bin Md Ali, on the other hand, was sentenced to death for drug trafficking and later put to death on 19 May 2017.[93] Similarly, the first executions carried out after the enactment of the death penalty laws were those of drug traffickers Tang Hai Liang and Foong Chee Peng on 18 July 2014.[90]

The amendments of the law also offered a chance for all the death row inmates to have their cases to be reviewed for re-sentencing.[94][95] There were also some cases where some death row inmates declined to be re-sentenced, including Tang Hai Liang and Foong Chee Peng (whose hangings were mentioned in the above paragraph).[90] The below cases are the known cases where some death row inmates applied for re-sentencing, as well as the details of their respective crimes and outcomes of their re-sentencing applications.

• Muhammad bin Kadar: On 6 May 2005, at a flat in Boon Lay, 29-year-old Singaporean and drug addict Muhammad bin Kadar knifed a 69-year-old elderly housewife named Tham Weng Kuen for more than 110 times during a robbery, leading to Tham's death. When he was arrested for the murder, Muhammad implicated his 37-year-old elder brother Ismil bin Kadar as an accomplice in the robbery and claimed that Ismil, who was also a drug addict himself, was the one who killed Tham when he went to ransack the flat (however, during the 94-day trial, Muhammad retracted this statement and claimed that his brother is innocent and he was the only one involved in the robbery). Ismil, who was later arrested and promptly charged with murder together with Muhammad, insisted his innocence throughout the trial and denied making any confessions about his alleged involvement in the crime. Nevertheless, after a trial lasting 94 days from 2006 to 2008, both brothers were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by the High Court.[96] Both brothers each filed an appeal; after reviewing the case and evidence, the Court of Appeal unanimously reached a conclusion that Ismil was not involved in the robbery and murder and that the High Court judge Woo Bih Li had erred in convicting Ismil of a crime he never committed. Therefore, on 6 July 2011, they acquitted Ismil of murder and set him free, while they dismissed Muhammad's appeal, upholding his sentence and conviction.[32][97] When changes to the law took effect in 2013, Muhammad applied for re-sentencing, but it was denied in September 2014 because the Court of Appeal were of the view that Muhammad had intended to cause death given the fact that he inflicted more than 110 knife wounds on Tham (even though his only intention was to rob the victim), which constitutes an offence of murder under Section 300(a) of the Penal Code, in which the death penalty is mandatory.[98][37] Muhammad was the first death row inmate to be denied re-sentencing since the enactment of the amended death penalty laws in January 2013. Eventually, on 17 April 2015, after the dismissal of his clemency plea and nearly 10 years after the death of Tham Weng Kuen, 39-year-old Muhammad bin Kadar was hanged in Changi Prison. At the time of his execution, Muhammad was believed to be the longest-serving inmate to face capital punishment in Singapore, having been in custody for about nine years and eight months - which included five years and nine months on death row.[99][100]
• Fabian Adiu Edwin: A construction worker from Sabah, Malaysia. In 2008, between 27 July to 23 August, together with his 25-year-old childhood friend Ellarry bin Puling, Fabian, who was merely 18 years old and also two months away from his 19th birthday at that time, went on to commit a series of violent robberies together with Ellary in which they had robbed a total of 6 victims. The duo's sixth and last victim, 35-year-old security guard Loh Ee Hui, was robbed and killed nearby a bus stop in Sims Avenue. He sustained skull fractures due to Fabian bludgeoning him on the head with a wooden stick while Ellarry acted as lookout. Loh later died in hospital from his injuries. Both men were arrested in early September 2008 and charged with murder. However, in September 2011, only Fabian was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Ellarry, who stood trial together with Fabian, was instead found guilty of a lesser charge of robbery with hurt.[101] Ellarry Puling was eventually sentenced to 19 years' imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane in March 2012.[102] Fabian lost his appeal against his sentence in August 2012. However, his hanging was put on hold pending the review of the mandatory death penalty in Singapore. After the amendments to the law took effect in January 2013, through his lawyer Anand Nalachandran, Fabian applied for re-sentencing and his case was sent back to Justice Chan Seng Onn, the original trial judge, for re-sentencing. On 17 July 2013, Fabian was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane. His young age at the time of the offences and his sub-normal IQ were the factors which spared him from the gallows. Fabian Adiu Edwin was the first death row inmate convicted of murder to be spared the hangman's noose and given a reprieve with a life term instead.[37][103]
• Kho Jabing: A rag and bone man from Sarawak, Malaysia. On 17 February 2008, 24-year-old Kho Jabing, together with his 23-year-old accomplice and shipyard worker Galing Anak Kujat, robbed two Chinese nationals in Geylang Drive. During the robbery, Kho used a tree branch to repeatedly bludgeon at one of the men before leaving with Galing. The man, 40-year-old construction worker Cao Ruyin, died 6 days later in hospital due to severe head injuries. Both men were arrested and convicted of murder, and sentenced to death in 2010. However, in May 2011, Kho's accomplice Galing won his appeal and was re-sentenced to 18 years and six months' imprisonment and 19 strokes of the cane. The allowing of Galing's appeal left Kho Jabing (who lost his appeal) the sole robber to hang for the murder of Cao Ruyin. After the government introduced the new death penalty laws in January 2013, following a re-trial by the High Court, Kho's death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane on 14 August 2013, becoming the second convicted murderer to escape the gallows. However, the prosecution appealed and on 14 January 2015, in a landmark ruling in Singapore's legal history, the death penalty was passed upon Kho again by a majority decision of 3-2 from the five-judge Court of Appeal, because the majority of the five judges felt that Kho had demonstrated viciousness and a blatant disregard for human life from his conduct at the time of the killing and the severity of Cao's injuries, which made the death penalty appropriate in Kho's case (the above two factors behind Kho's death sentence subsequently became the main guiding principles in the new death penalty laws for murder in Singapore). Together with another unnamed death row inmate (who was hanged at dawn), Kho was hanged in Changi Prison at 3.30 pm on the Friday afternoon of 20 May 2016, the first time an execution was not conducted at dawn, shortly after the dismissal of his final appeal on that morning itself.[104][105][106]
• Bijukumar Remadevi Nair Gopinathan: On 15 March 2010, 34-year-old shipyard worker and Indian national Bijukumar Remadevi Nair Gopinathan murdered 30-year-old Filipino prostitute Roselyn Reyes Pascua by stabbing her multiple times in the chest, abdomen, neck and genital area. He even robbed the deceased of her handphone and cash amounting to $476.30. Gopinathan was arrested two days later and charged with murder. The following year, at the trial, Gopinathan put up the defence of sudden and grave provocation against the murder allegation, but it was rejected. Not just that, Justice Choo Han Teck determined in his judgement that Gopinathan had gone to Pascua's room with the intention of robbing and killing her. As such, the judge convict Gopinathan of murder under section 300(a) of the Penal Code (murder with intention to kill) and sentenced him to death on 26 March 2012.[107] Gopinathan filed an appeal, and in September 2012, the Court of Appeal determined that Gopinathan committed murder by intentionally inflicting fatal injuries on the victim but with no intention to cause death, hence they still found him guilty of murder, but under section 300(c) of the Penal Code. When changes to the mandatory death penalty took effect in 2013, Gopinathan's lawyer Shashi Nathan applied for re-sentencing and it was granted.[108] The case was remitted to the original trial judge for re-sentencing. On 28 August 2013, Gopinathan's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and 18 strokes of the cane, effectively becoming the third convicted murderer on death row to be spared the gallows. The prosecution did not object to this re-sentencing decision, though they ask for the maximum of 24 strokes of the cane to be imposed on Gopinathan in view of the violence he exhibited at the time of the murder, while the defence argued for 12 to 15 strokes of the cane.[109][110][111]
• Kamrul Hasan Abdul Quddus: A Bangladeshi construction worker who murdered his Indonesian girlfriend Yulia Afriyanti and stuffed her body in a box before abandoning it on 16 December 2007. Kamrul Hasan was later arrested and tried for murder. In early 2010, Justice Kan Ting Chiu found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to death.[112] A year later, Kamrul Hasan also lost his appeal against the sentence.[113] Kamrul Hasan also filed an application to reopen his concluded appeal which was dismissed in March 2012. After the changes to the law took effect in 2013, Kamrul Hasan applied for re-sentencing and on 12 November 2013, the then-40-year-old was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane by Justice Choo Han Teck (who took over the task of re-sentencing due to Justice Kan's retirement since 2011). He became the fourth convicted murderer to escape the gallows. Similarly, like the case of Bijukumar Remadevi Nair Gopinathan, the prosecution did not object to the High Court's decision to spare Kamrul Hasan's life for his crime.[114][115] Kamrul Hasan later filed an appeal for a lighter punishment for his murder conviction, but it was turned down by the Court of Appeal in August 2014, because they could not further reduce his life sentence given that it was already the minimum penalty warranted for murder under the newly amended Penal Code.[116]
• Wang Wenfeng: A Chinese national and odd-job worker from Fujian, China. During the early hours of the morning of 11 April 2009, out of desperation for money, 31-year-old Wang Wenfeng (王文锋) armed himself with a knife and prowled the streets, with plans to commit robbery. He boarded a taxi driven by 58-year-old taxi driver Yuen Swee Hong (袁水鸿), who spotted him and asked him where he wanted to go. After the taxi reached Jalan Selimang near Sembawang Park at Wang's instructions to the driver, Wang made his move and pointed the knife at Yuen directly from behind the driver's seat, threatening him to hand out his money. A struggle ensued, and Yuen was stabbed several times, bleeding heavily from his wounds. Upon seeing the driver's limp body, Wang panicked and quickly abandoned the body in a nearby forested area, with the assumption that the driver had died (but not without taking away the man's money and phone). He later abandoned the taxi in a carpark in Canberra Road and later on, called Yuen's wife Mdm Chan Oi Lin (with whom Yuen had a son and daughter), lying that he had kidnapped her husband and demanded a ransom from her. Not realising that her husband was dead, Chan contacted the police, and the police later managed to trace Wang and arrest him. Despite his initial denials of the crime, Wang finally confessed to the deed out of eventual guilt a few days after his arrest, and led the police to Yuen Swee Hong's highly decomposed body in the forest of Jalan Semilang. Wang, who was married with a daughter back in China, was charged with murder. Despite his insistence that he only intend to commit robbery and not to kill Yuen, his claim of remorse and difficult personal circumstances back in China, Justice Lee Seiu Kin convicted Wang of murder and sentenced him to death in September 2011, as he found that Wang had intended to cause the fatal injuries on Yuen and that he was remorseless about the killing as reflected from his conduct after the killing and his attempt to extort ransom from Yuen's family with disregards of prolonging their agony by making them falsely believe Yuen was still alive and that they can make him come back by paying him the ransom.[117] Wang also lost his appeal against the sentence.[118] However, when changes to the law took effect in 2013, Wang applied for re-sentencing and it was granted. On 13 November 2013, despite the urgings of the prosecution to re-sentence Wang to death, Justice Lee re-sentenced Wang to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane, on the grounds that Wang's only intention was to commit robbery and not murder, and that Yuen's death was caused during a struggle instead of a pre-meditated act of killing.[119][120][121] The prosecution filed an appeal against this decision, but eventually, in April 2015, they withdrew it in light of the outcome of the prosecution's appeal against Kho Jabing's life sentence.[122]

• Yong Vui Kong: On 12 June 2007, the 19-year-old Malaysian Yong Vui Kong (杨伟光) was arrested for transporting more than 47 grams of heroin from Malaysia to Singapore. Yong, who was a native of Sabah, Malaysia, was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to death in November 2008. Although Yong lost his multiple appeals against the death sentence and also the failure of his petition for presidential pardon, however, when changes to the law took effect in 2013, where judges have discretion to sentence drug traffickers who only act as couriers or having fulfilled any other conditions, to life imprisonment with/without caning instead of death, Yong was granted re-sentencing, and on 14 November 2013, Yong was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and the minimum of 15 strokes of the cane; the life sentence was also backdated to the date when Yong was first charged.[123][37][124] Yong Vui Kong was the first drug trafficker on death row to be spared the gallows after changes in the law took effect. Later, Yong's lawyer M Ravi filed an appeal against Yong's caning sentence and argued that the caning was unconstitutional, but it was dismissed on 4 March 2015.[125]
• Subashkaran Pragasam: In October 2008, 24-year-old Singaporean Subashkaran Pragasam was arrested and found to be carrying 9 packets of heroin, which weighed up to 186.62 g in total. Subashkaran was charged with drug trafficking, and in October 2012, he was convicted of drug trafficking and received the mandatory death penalty. However, when the death penalty was no longer mandatory to those drug offenders who only act as drug couriers or substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) in the fight against drugs etc. from January 2013 onwards, Subashkaran applied for re-sentencing and on 6 January 2014, after he was certified by the prosecution to have fulfilled the above conditions, Subashkaran's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane. Subashkaran Pragasam became the second convicted drug offender to be spared the gallows after Yong Vui Kong. In addition, Subashkaran's life sentence was ordered to commence from the date of his remand in November 2008.[37][126]
• Dinesh Pillai Reja Retnam: On 19 December 2009, 26-year-old unemployed Malaysian Dinesh Pillai Reja Retnam, was paid RM200 to carry more than 19 grams of heroin across the Causeway. He was arrested and tried for drug trafficking. On 14 April 2011, Dinesh was found guilty and sentenced to death. He lost his appeal against his sentence, as well as a separate application to reopen his concluded appeal. However, when changes to the law took effect in 2013, where drug traffickers with mental illnesses which impaired their responsibility for the crime must be given a life term without caning, Dinesh applied for re-sentencing. A psychiatric report certified that Dinesh was suffering from depression as a result of his fiancée breaking off their engagement and himself losing his job as a waiter, and this led to him suffering from lapses in his judgement and emotional control, which made him "lamentably" accepting the task to traffick heroin into Singapore during one of these emotional lapses. Dinesh was also found to be suffering from some degree of organic damage to his brain during a medical examination. As a result, in March 2014, Dinesh was re-sentenced to life imprisonment; he was also spared the cane in view of his depression. Dinesh became the first drug trafficker to be given a life sentence on the grounds of diminished responsibility when committing the crime.[37][127]
• Yip Mun Hei: A Singaporean who became the third drug trafficker to escape the gallows when he was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane on 27 May 2014. The 42-year-old courier, who was arrested together with his accomplice on 18 January 2008 for trafficking at least 18.43g of heroin, was sentenced to death in September 2009 and subsequently stayed on death row for more than 4 years before his re-sentencing; Yip's 58-year-old accomplice Leong Soy Yip was similarly sentenced to death. Both men also lost their appeals against the death sentence during that period before Yip's re-sentencing. Reasons behind Yip's re-sentencing were that he acted as a courier and fully cooperated with and substantively assisted the authorities in tackling drug trafficking activities. It is not known whether Leong, like Yip, had also applied for re-sentencing; till now, his fate remains unknown.[37][128][129]
• Wilkinson A/L Primus: A 29-year-old Malaysian drug trafficker who was re-sentenced to imprisonment for life on 28 October 2014. Wilkinson, who was born on 27 March 1985,[130] was arrested on 3 November 2008 at the Woodlands Checkpoint for carrying a bundle containing 35.66 g of heroin. He was tried in court and convicted of drug trafficking in 2009, and sentenced to be hanged to death. However, when the changes to the law took effect in 2013, Wilkinson, through an appeal by his lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, was given a reprieve with a life term because he was substantiated to be intellectually challenged and suffering from depression at the time of the crime, which impairs his mental responsibility at the time of the crime. He was also not subjected to caning on account of his illness.[131][132]
• Cheong Chun Yin: A 31-year-old Malaysian drug courier who became the fourth drug trafficker to be re-sentenced to incarceration for life with 15 strokes of the cane on 20 April 2015 for trafficking in 2.726 kg of heroin from Myanmar to Singapore on 16 June 2008. He was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to death, and lost his appeal in October the same year. Cheong also made an application to reopen his concluded appeal which was dismissed in October 2012. Cheong was granted a reprieve because he was certified to be acting as courier and had substantively assisted the authorities to tackle drug trafficking activities in and outside Singapore. His boss and accomplice, 60-year-old Pang Siew Fum, was arrested on the same day and also sentenced to death for drug trafficking. Although she did not substantively assist the authorities in investigations like Cheong, Pang however, was also spared the death penalty and re-sentenced to life imprisonment on the same date as Cheong because she was found to be suffering from a mental illness at the time of the offence. Pang was not subjected to caning due to her gender, since females are not allowed to be caned as ruled in Singapore law.[133]
• Chijioke Stephen Obioha: A Nigerian drug trafficker who was caught trafficking 2,604.56g of cannabis into Singapore in April 2007. Obioha, who came to Singapore since 2005 at the age of 27, was sentenced to death on 30 December 2008, and lost his appeal in 2010, but his execution was among those put on hold when the government began to review the mandatory death penalty laws in Singapore. After the new death penalty laws took effect in 2013, Obioha filed for re-sentencing in May 2015, but for unknown reasons, he withdrew it in April 2016. Obioha later filed another appeal and a plea for clemency to seek a successful attempt to escape the gallows, but they were all met with failure; his appeal for a stay of execution was also dismissed. Eventually, on 18 November 2016, together with another drug trafficker, 31-year-old Malaysian Devendran A/L Supramaniam (who similarly exhausted all his avenues of appeal after receiving the death penalty on 29 July 2014 for importing more than 83g of diamorphine into Singapore), 38-year-old Chijioke Stephen Obioha was hanged to death in Changi Prison for his crime; both men were reportedly "accorded full due process under the law".[134]
• Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam: A drug trafficker who was caught in April 2009 for trafficking in 42.72 g of diamorphine (pure heroin). The Malaysian admitted to the CNB officers that he knew he was carrying drugs and it was a friend (whom he called "King") who strapped it to his thigh so that no one would find it. He also gave various inconsistent accounts like King assaulting him and threatening to kill his girlfriend if he did not help him traffick the drugs; he did so out of misguided loyalty and he needed money. Nagaenthran was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to death in November 2010. When the new death penalty laws took effect in January 2013, Nagaenthran applied for re-sentencing on account of clinical mental retardation and mental illness; however, as he was found to be suffering from neither of the above (even though his low IQ of 69 made him prone to believing King's supposed threat to murder his grilfriend), Nagaenthran was thus denied the chance to be re-sentenced. He was also not issued a certificate of substantive assistance by the CNB, since he did not substantively assist them in disrupting the drug trafficking activities. Nagaenthran later filed two separate appeals to challenge these two above decisions, but the five-judge Court of Appeal upheld the two decisions and dismissed Nagaenthran's appeals on 27 May 2019, condemning Nagaenthran to hang for his crime, as well as putting an end to his 9-year-long series of legal battles against the death penalty. Nagaenthran is currently appealing to the President of Singapore for clemency.[135][136]

On 14 January 2015, a landmark ruling was made by the Court of Appeal in the prosecution's appeal against the re-sentencing case of one former death row inmate Kho Jabing, who was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane for being guilty of murdering 40-year-old Chinese PRC citizen Cao Ruyin during a robbery under Section 300(c) of the Penal Code of Singapore. The landmark judgement of the rare five-judge Court of Appeal, in which the Court of Appeal, by a majority decision of 3–2, overturned Kho's life sentence and sentenced him to death a second time, had set the main guiding principles for all judges in Singapore to decide if the death penalty is appropriate for those murder cases committed with no intention to kill while exercising their discretion to impose either a life term or death for offenders responsible for such.[137]

The main guiding principles set were as such:

1. Whether an offender displayed viciousness during the time of the commission of the offence of murder
2. Whether an offender demonstrated a blatant disregard for human life at the time of the killing
3. Whether the offender's actions sparked an outrage of the feelings of the community

In the above case of Kho Jabing, the majority three of the five judges were satisfied that Kho Jabing, who had used a tree branch to attack Cao and bashed his head repeatedly (which resulted into a completely shattered skull that caused Cao to die from a coma six days after the killing), had demonstrated both a blatant disregard for human life and viciousness while killing Cao Ruyin, and Kho's actions were such that it outraged the feelings of the community. Due to this, Kho was once again given the death penalty and he was eventually hanged on 20 May 2016.[105][106]

Consequently, the guiding principles from Kho Jabing's case also impacted on several subsequent murder cases and influenced the sentencing or appeal outcomes of these murder cases, which included the 2010 Kallang Slashings,[138][139] the Gardens by the Bay murder case,[140] the Circuit Road flat murder,[141][142] and the murder of Dexmon Chua Yizhi[143][144][145] etc.