Life imprisonment in Singapore

The ruling of Abdul Nasir's appeal, however, did not affect any outstanding cases that happened before the 1997 changes to the law, and the old life imprisonment laws is still applicable for these cases, where the offender would not be imprisoned for life but for at most twenty years. In the case of wanted gunman Chin Sheong Hon, who was arrested in 2013 for using a revolver to rob and hurt a woman back in November 1981, the trial judge Pang Khang Chau highlighted that life imprisonment, as the maximum penalty for Chin's crime, should not be a term that lasts the remainder of his natural life but a term of twenty years' jail under the old laws before Abdul Nasir's case, since his crime was committed in 1981 while the previous laws were still in effect back then. 72-year-old Chin, in the end, was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment in November 2022 despite the prosecution's submissions for a life sentence.^[15][16][17]

Introduction of life imprisonment for murder and drug trafficking

On 1 January 2013, the government of Singapore approved the changes to the death penalty laws, in which they introduced life imprisonment as the minimum punishment for murder offences with no intention to kill and capital drug trafficking, under certain conditions. For offenders who commit murder but had no intention to kill, they would receive life sentences with caning. 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), and/or substantively assisting the authorities in disrupting drug-related activities. Drug traffickers who were suffering from diminished responsibility will serve a mandatory life sentence without caning for their crimes, while those who acted as couriers would receive life terms and caning of not less than 15 strokes.

Minister for Law K. Shanmugam stated that these changes were a right step taken in view of the extremely low crime rate and increasing rate of public safety in Singapore, and such changes were made to allow judges to have more discretion in deciding between death and life in capital cases where their individual circumstances did not sufficiently call for the death penalty, which allowed more emphasis on mercy during sentencing while maintaining the need for retribution and deterrence. Shanmugam also quoted in his own words, "Justice can be tempered with mercy and, where appropriate, offenders should be given a second chance".^[18]

These legal reforms allowed offenders in some capital cases to be sentenced to life imprisonment instead of death, and it also allowed some death row inmates (notably

On 14 March 1972, five men – Sia Ah Kew, Ho Kok Keng, Hoong Khung Cheong, Koo Ah Choo and Lim Chai Thiam – were involved in the kidnapping of Tjioe Kok Hwie, an affluent Indonesian businessman and they demanded from Tjioe's daughters and wife a ransom of S$50,000. The five kidnappers were later arrested and sentenced to death by two High Court judges Choor Singh and D. C. D'Cotta on charges of kidnapping by ransom, a crime which attracts either a death sentence or life imprisonment with/without caning under the Kidnapping Act.^[23]

After the end of their trial proceedings in October 1973, the five kidnappers filed their appeals for their death sentences to be reduced, and on 2 April 1974, the Court of Appeal, having duly considered the facts, decided to reduce the death sentences to life imprisonment for the kidnappers. In addition to their life sentences, the five men also received caning: out of the five, Ho received the highest number of 12 strokes of the cane, Hoong received nine while the remaining three were caned six strokes.^[24]

In their ruling, the three-judge panel, consisting of Wee Chong Jin, Frederick Arthur Chua and T. Kulasekaram, stated that despite the kidnappers being armed with pistols and daggers and had threatened Tjioe and his family, they did not cause physical harm to Tjioe and they treated him well while he was confined by the kidnappers. The judges were of the view that the death penalty should strictly be reserved for the worst cases of kidnapping and in cases where the circumstances did not signal an anxious need for capital punishment or spark an outrage of the community's feelings, life imprisonment (whether with caning or not) should be the default sentence for those convicted of kidnapping by ransom.^[25]

Extracted from Sia Ah Kew and Others v Public Prosecutor [1974]:

In our opinion the maximum sentence prescribed by the legislature would be appropriate where the manner of the kidnapping or the acts or conduct of the kidnappers are such as to outrage the feelings of the community.^[25]

In the aftermath of the case, there were only five cases of kidnapping by ransom that took place between 1999 and 2014, though all cases ended with the courts issuing verdicts of life imprisonment based on the benchmark ruling and principles set by the Sia Ah Kew case, since all cases did not involve any serious harm caused to the victims.^[26][27][28] The rarity of kidnapping in Singapore was due to the tough laws and use of capital punishment in Singapore for the crime, and it was known to be an effective deterrent, resulting in kidnapping crimes being rarely committed in Singapore, as well as the judges' preference to sentence kidnappers to life in prison rather than death due to lack of aggravating circumstances that called for the death penalty.^[29]

Abdul Nasir bin Amer Hamsah v Public Prosecutor (1997)

Lim Hock Hin Kelvin v Public Prosecutor (1997)

In November 1996, 28-year-old cleaning supervisor

In November 1997, in dismissing Kelvin Lim's appeal, the Court of Appeal's three judges – consisting of Chief Justice Yong Pung How, Judges of Appeal Thean Lip Ping (L P Thean) and M Karthigesu – took into consideration Lim's refusal of medical treatment, lack of familial support and the great danger he posed to society given his paedophilic condition, they decided to not reduce his 40-year sentence.

Extracted from Lim Hock Hin Kelvin v Public Prosecutor [1997]:

There were no significant mitigating factors in this case. The learned judge (Sinnathuray) had found, rightly in our opinion, that paedophilia is not a disease or a physical illness but is a disorder. … Even if paedophilia is an illness, we reject any suggestion that the sufferer cannot help it and therefore carries only a diminished responsibility for his actions. There is no evidence that paedophiles cannot exercise a high degree of responsibility and self-control. The learned judge found that the appellant (Lim) had a choice of whether to commit paedophilic offences against the victims, and chose to do so.^[35]

The three judges also made a benchmark ruling, which decreed that in whichever future cases, if a chronic paedophile was unable to or see no initiative to refrain himself from his sexual advances towards children, such offenders should be sentenced to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. This legal benchmark, however, did not retroactively apply to Lim's case since he was sentenced before the date of his appeal's ruling.^[35][36][37]

Public Prosecutor v Tan Kei Loon Allan (1998)

In August 1998, Allan Tan Kei Loon, an 18-year-old gang member who killed a rival gang member during a gang fight, was found guilty of

However, the Court of Appeal disagreed with the prosecution that life imprisonment should be the benchmark sentence for gang killings, as the cases of such homicides may not arise from the same reason.^[39] Furthermore, the appellate judges stated that with the changes to the law and significant change of the length of life imprisonment from "20 years" to "natural life", they felt that this signalled the courts' need to be cautious before committing an offender, especially a young person, to life behind bars:

Extracted from Public Prosecutor v Tan Kei Loon Allan [1998] 3 SLR(R) 679:

On the question whether a sentence of life imprisonment was appropriate, we were naturally impressed by the implications of our decision in Abdul Nasir. Certainly, even with R119A, a sentence of life is now much harsher than it was before our ruling in Abdul Nasir. Whereas an accused person previously would serve a maximum sentence of 20 years, with a potential remission commuting his sentence to one of 13 years and 4 months, he must now serve a minimum of 20 years’ imprisonment, at which point his release would be within the discretion of a Life Imprisonment Review Board. So, the minimum period of incarceration is now six years and eight months longer, whilst the maximum period of incarceration, previously 20 years, is now the remainder of the prisoner's natural life. In this context it is equally important to note that under the old position, his release after 20 years would have been guaranteed, but a prisoner sentenced for life in respect of a crime committed after Abdul Nasir has no such peace of mind.

In that respect, we are of the view that the courts must now exercise caution before committing a young offender to life imprisonment. Contrary to traditional reasoning, in similar cases involving a youthful offender on the one hand and an older offender in the other, the youthful offender sentenced to life imprisonment would now be subject to a longer period of incarceration than an older offender, assuming they both lived to the same age.^[40]

The late High Court judge Lai Kew Chai (deceased since 2006), who delivered the verdict he finalized with Thean Lip Ping (L. P. Thean) and M. Karthigesu, also highlighted the limits to sentencing an offender to either life or up to ten years, given that judges cannot impose sentences of more than ten years but less than life, which would leave judges with the dilemma that a life term may be an excessive punishment for an offender convicted of culpable homicide, which was exactly the case for Tan based on the mitigating and aggravating factors of his case. In his own words, Justice Lai quoted:

Extracted from Public Prosecutor v Tan Kei Loon Allan [1998] 3 SLR(R) 679:

In a situation in which the court is desirous of a sentence greater than ten years, but feels that a sentence of life imprisonment is excessive, we have no choice but to come down, however reluctantly, on the side of leniency. Otherwise, the punishment imposed would significantly exceed the offender's culpability. It would, in our view, be wrong to adopt an approach in which the court would prefer an excessive sentence to an inadequate one.^[40]

As such, the prosecution's appeal was rejected, but the Court of Appeal increased Tan's sentence to the alternate maximum term of ten years' imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane, as they conceded in agreement with the prosecution that Tan's seven-year sentence and nine-stroke caning were not manifestly adequate to address his culpability of the killing.^[41] However, the ruling in Tan's case was frequently referred to in subsequent cases of culpable homicide before the courts, where the prosecution sought a life term for the offender(s), in which some offenders were sentenced to life in prison while others get not more than ten years' imprisonment.

Eventually, in 2008, the Penal Code was revised and Section 304 of the Penal Code was amended to allow judges to impose sentences of either life or up to 20 years in jail with/without caning and/or a fine for future cases of culpable homicide not amounting to murder from 2008 onwards.^[42]

Public Prosecutor v Kho Jabing (2015)

On 14 January 2015, the prosecution appealed against the re-sentencing of Kho Jabing, a Malaysian who was convicted of the 2008 murder of a Chinese construction worker during an armed robbery. Kho was sentenced to death in 2010 for murder, but the 2013 legal reforms to the death penalty allowed Kho, like other death row prisoners in Singapore, to appeal for re-sentencing, and High Court judge Tay Yong Kwang (who is current Judge of Appeal since 2016) re-sentenced Kho to life in prison and 24 strokes of the cane. The ruling of the appeal, by a 3–2 decision, led to Kho being sentenced to death once again and he was eventually hanged on 20 May 2016 after several failed attempts to overturn his sentence.^[43]

The verdict is considered as a benchmark of sentencing guidelines for judges to decide between the death penalty and life sentence for murder, as the five judges, despite conflicting decisions between the majority and minority on the final sentence, unanimously agreed that the death penalty should be imposed in serious cases of murder where an offender, despite not having an intention to kill, exhibited viciousness and/or a blatant disregard for human life, and furthermore, if an offender's actions outraged the feelings of the community.^[44][45] This verdict of Kho's case effectively impacted on the outcomes of several future cases, where some murderers were sentenced to life imprisonment due to their conduct not sufficiently calling for the death sentence while others were executed.

Legislation

Judicial sentencing powers

In Singapore, both the

Not only that, the President of Singapore have the power to grant a death row inmate clemency and commute his or her death sentence to life imprisonment, but since 1965, there were only six successful cases of clemency (two for drug trafficking and four for murder) when the President pardoned an inmate from execution in Singapore. The last case was in April 1998 when then President Ong Teng Cheong granted clemency to 19-year-old convicted murderer Mathavakannan Kalimuthu and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.^[52] Not only that, the President also had the power to pardon a prisoner from serving a life sentence and order the convict's release, which was the case for Sim Ah Cheoh, a drug trafficker and mother of two who suffered from terminal cancer and thus asked the President for clemency a second time to allow her to be released and spend her remaining time with her family. Sim was originally sentenced to hang in 1988 for smuggling 1.37 kg of heroin before her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by a presidential pardon. After then President Ong Teng Cheong approved her second clemency petition, Sim was released in February 1995, and died one month later.^[53][54]

However, the Court of Appeal, being the highest court of the nation, also had the authority to increase a life sentence (or any other jail term) to the

Before 20 August 1997, a life sentence meant a prison term of twenty years, and like all other fixed term sentences, it carried the usual one-third remission for good behaviour, which allowed prisoners to gain parole after serving at least two-thirds of their sentences. In the case of Bobby Chung Hua Watt, a murder convict and carpenter whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in January 1980 after receiving clemency, he served two-thirds of his life term (equivalent to 13 years and four months) before he was released on parole for good behaviour and had the final third of the sentence remitted.^[60]

After the landmark appeal of

One instance of a "natural life sentence" convict being released on parole was Singaporean Vincent Lee Chuan Leong, who masterminded the kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl on 9 September 1999, and within the same month, Lee and his two accomplices were arrested and they were all sentenced to life imprisonment in April 2000. According to a YouTube video, Vincent Lee, who was 33 years old when committing the crime, was currently released on parole from prison at the age of 54 since 22 June 2020 after serving a total of 20 years, ten months and nine days in prison with good behaviour, and is employed as a lorry driver. However, Lee's case was the only known and reported case of a life term prisoner released on parole.^[62][63]

Unlike the United States and certain Western countries like England, the current life imprisonment laws in Singapore did not adopt a practice of

Under the Penal Code,^[67] there are more than forty offences that can result in life imprisonment. For certain offences, life imprisonment is the maximum penalty, while for some capital offences, life imprisonment is the minimum penalty under the law, notably murder with no intention to kill since 2013:

• Murder (§302(2)) (applicable only under 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)
• Robbery committed by five or more people that results in the death of a person (§396)
• Attempted murder with harm caused to the victim (§307)
• Culpable homicide not amounting to murder (§304)
• Criminal breach of trust by a public servant (§409)
• Causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons/means (§326)
• Voluntarily causing hurt to extort property or to constrain to an illegal act (§329)
• Voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession or to compel restoration of property (§331)
• Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from their duty (§333)
• Piracy (§130B) (Mandatory)

There is also a section of the Penal Code which slated that whoever was found guilty of committing attempted murder while serving a life sentence in Singapore, he/she would be automatically sentenced to death. Originally, the offence of rape was punishable by life imprisonment as the maximum sentence before the maximum sentence was amended to twenty years' imprisonment instead, due to the effects of life imprisonment being extended to natural life.^[46]

Kidnapping Act

Under the Kidnapping Act, several kidnapping offences, notably kidnapping for ransom, dictates life imprisonment as the minimum punishment upon conviction.^[68]

Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act provides:

Whoever, with intent to hold any person for ransom, abducts or wrongfully restrains or wrongfully confines that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be punished on conviction with death or imprisonment for life and shall, if he is not sentenced to death, also be liable to caning.^[68]

In certain cases of life imprisonment for kidnapping, caning is also potentially imposed (exclusively for male convicts) under certain circumstances like the vulnerability of the victim, the presence of weapons or if any harm/threat was made during the kidnapping. In the 2014 case of Sheng Siong kidnapper

Since 2013, the changes to the death penalty laws for capital drug trafficking allowed judges to have the discretion to sentence drug traffickers to life imprisonment, provided that they acted as couriers, cooperated with the authorities to disrupt drug-related activities and/or suffering from mental illnesses.^[75] Notable cases of traffickers who received life imprisonment includes Yong Vui Kong, a Malaysian who was initially sentenced to death before the reduction of his sentence to life.^[76]

There were also certain offences where trafficking of drugs with amounts below the capital threshold may also attract life imprisonment as a possible punishment, which is also the maximum for the trafficking of such amounts.^[75]

Arms Offences Act

Under the Arms Offences Act, there were several offences that would warrant life imprisonment upon conviction, either as the mandatory sentence in some cases, or the minimum or maximum punishment for several others. These include trafficking of arms, and unlawful possessions of firearms upon arrest for any scheduled offence.^[77]

One example of a person sentenced to life in prison under the Act was

Under Section 124 of the Hijacking of Aircraft and Protection of Aircraft and International Airports Act, an offender can be sentenced to life imprisonment as the mandatory punishment if they were found guilty under this Act for whichever offences related to:

1. hijacking of aircraft
2. violence against passengers or crew members
3. destroying, damaging or endangering the safety of aircraft
4. and endangering safety at aerodromes

This law was first enacted since 1978.^[81]

Sentencing conditions and exceptions

There are several conditions and exceptions for courts in Singapore to consider in cases where a person faces a potential life sentence under the law for whichever scheduled offence charged.

Mentally ill offenders

Cases of culpable homicide not amounting to murder

For instance, should a person suffering from a mental illness was charged with any offence punishable by life (or less than life), notably culpable homicide not amounting to murder (or manslaughter), the courts has to ascertain the extent of diminished responsibility suffered by the person. While the defence of diminished responsibility could enable the reduction of a murder charge to culpable homicide, it was also a condition where the judges can refer to as a relevant factor of consideration on whether life imprisonment, as the maximum punishment, should be imposed on the offender. In several cases of life imprisonment for mentally ill offenders, the judges were of the opinion that the offender should be committed to a sentence of life behind bars if the condition presents him/her as a psychiatric danger to society and to himself.

In the 2006 precedent case of 37-year-old

Since 2013, the changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act decreed that all judges were to impose a mandatory life sentence for drug traffickers who were suffering from mental illnesses, provided that their conditions had substantially impaired their mental responsibility at the time of the offence. This requirement for eligibility, if fulfilled, could spare such drug offenders from the death penalty in spite of the amount of drugs exceeding the capital threshold.

In the case of

Under Section 37 of the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA), it was decreed that a child below the age of 14 years will not be incarcerated for any offence. This is similarly applied for a person aged 14 and above but below 16, who would be detained at a juvenile rehabilitation centre, although the courts had the authority to order otherwise through evaluations of his character. These two above laws prohibit life imprisonment for young offenders from these two age groups.[46]

However, if a child or young person is convicted of a very serious crime that potentially requires a sentence of life imprisonment, and the court found that life imprisonment was the only available and suitable option to deploy during sentencing, the offender will be detained for a period of time as specified in the sentence under Section 38 of the CYPA. They would be subjected to similar conditions for eligibility of parole like adult offenders serving life in prison.^[46]

Under Section 314 of the Criminal Procedure Code from 2010 onwards, if a person was found guilty of committing murder, drug trafficking or other offences punishable by death when he was below 18 years old, the convict would not receive the death penalty, and instead, he would be committed to a mandatory term of life imprisonment as an alternative punishment instead. Before its abolition in 2010, a sentence of indefinite detention at the President's Pleasure was imposed for minors who commit capital crimes while under the age of 18.^[46]

The first underaged offender to be sentenced to life imprisonment for a capital offence was

• Koh Swee Beng, a Singaporean found guilty of murdering 31-year-old moneylender Tay Kim Teck, who assaulted Koh’s godfather, with whom Koh shared a good relationship with. Koh was sentenced to hang in 1990 but two days before he was due to be executed, Koh was granted clemency on 13 May 1992, and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by then President Wee Kim Wee
  . Koh was released on parole in September 2005.
• Mathavakannan Kalimuthu, a Singaporean gang member who, together with two friends (both executed for murder), killed 25-year-old rival gang member Saravanan Michael Ramalingam during a gang fight in 1996, and he was merely 18 years and 16 days old at the time of the crime. He was initially sentenced to death for murder in the same year of his crime before then President Ong Teng Cheong granted him clemency and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment on 28 April 1998. Mathavakannan was released on parole since 2012.
• Kho Jabing, a Malaysian rag-and-bone man who robbed and fatally injured 40-year-old Chinese national Cao Ruyin in 2008. His death sentence was initially reduced to life imprisonment in a 2013 re-sentencing trial before the Court of Appeal sentenced him to death a second time. He was hanged at the age of 32 on 20 May 2016.
• Wang Wenfeng, a Chinese national who robbed and killed 58-year-old taxi driver
  Yuen Swee Hong
  . 29-year-old Wang was originally sentenced to death in 2011 for Yuen's murder before the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane during a re-sentencing trial on 14 November 2013.
• Lim Wee Thong, a 48-year-old Singaporean and former prison officer who was sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane on 13 March 2014 for the 2011 murder of his girlfriend Loh Nyuk Moi.^[96]
• Tony Anak Imba, a Malaysian foreign worker who murdered 41-year-old Indian national Shanmuganathan Dillidurai during a gang robbery in 2010. He was sentenced on 20 April 2015 to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane
  .
• Chia Kee Chen
  , a Singaporean businessman who murdered his wife's 37-year-old ex-lover Dexmon Chua Yizhi in 2013. He was originally sentenced to life in jail on 4 August 2017 before the Court of Appeal increased his sentence to death upon the prosecution's appeal a year later.
• Yaacob Mohamed Yatim, a Singaporean who murdered his friend Abdul Rashid Mohd Nenggal during a fight. Yaacob was sentenced to incarceration for life on 19 April 2018 but spared the cane due to his age of 58.^[97]
• Syed Maffi Hasan, a 24-year-old jobless Singaporean who killed his 23-year-old friend Atika Dolkifli by throwing her off a multistorey carpark at Toa Payoh. Syed Maffi was sentenced to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane on 4 July 2019.^[98]
• Chan Lie Sian
  , a Singaporean brothel owner who fatally injured his 35-year-old customer William Tiah Hung Wai. He was initially sentenced to death for murder in 2017 before he successfully appealed to reduce his sentence to life imprisonment on 30 July 2019; he was not caned due to his age of 55.
• Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock, a Singaporean laundry shop manager who murdered his 31-year-old Chinese girlfriend Cui Yajie and burning her body. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 19 August 2019, but evaded caning due to his age of 51.
• Boh Soon Ho
  , a Malaysian who murdered his 28-year-old girlfriend and China-born nurse Zhang Huaxiang. Boh was sentenced to life imprisonment on 8 February 2020, but spared the cane due to his age of 51.
• Toh Sia Guan, a homeless Singaporean and "Karung guni
  " man who fatally stabbed 52-year-old coffee shop helper Goh Eng Thiam during a physical fight. He was sentenced to life in prison for murder on 3 March 2020, but spared the cane due to his age of 67.
• Ahmad Muin Yaacob, a Malaysian cleaner (aged 23 in 2016) on a temporary work permit who robbed and killed his 54-year-old supervisor Maimunah Awang. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment and 18 strokes of the cane on 4 November 2020.^[99][100]
• Daryati, an Indonesian maid (aged 23 in 2016) who fatally stabbed her employer Seow Kim Choo and slashed Seow's husband Ong Thiam Soon (who survived the attack) at the couple's Telok Kurau family home. Daryati was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on 23 April 2021, and she lost her appeal against her life sentence and conviction on 31 March 2022.^[101]
• Seet Cher Hng, a 66-year-old Singaporean and retiree who murdered his 54-year-old ex-wife Low Hwee Geok at the carpark of ITE College Central over alleged money issues in 2018. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 September 2021 but spared the cane due to his age of 69.^{[102][103][104]}
• Mohammad Rosli Abdul Rahim, a 48-year-old Singaporean who killed his 35-year-old housemate Mohammad Roslan Zaini by stabbing him fatally in the chest. For the charge of murdering Roslan, Rosli was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment five years later on 13 January 2022 but spared the cane due to his age of 52.^[105]
• Mohamed Aliff Mohamed Yusoff, a 27-year-old Singaporean who killed his girlfriend's nine-month old son Izz Fayyaz Zayani Ahmad. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane on 11 August 2022.^[106]
• Surajsrikan Diwakar Mani Tripathi
  , a 20-year-old jobless Singaporean who murdered 38-year-old Singaporean Tay Rui Hao in 2020 while the victim was jogging near Punggol Field. He was sentenced on 15 September 2022 to life in prison and 15 strokes of the cane.
• Naing Lin, a Myanmar national who stabbed his friend Myo Kyaw Thu during an argument and caused Myo to bleed to death overnight in their rented flat. Naing pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to incarceration for life on 22 September 2022, but spared the cane due to his age of 51.^[107]
• Azlin Arujunah, a 30-year-old Singaporean woman who murdered her five-year-old son by fatally scalding the child multiple times with hot water. Despite the prosecution's arguments for the death penalty
  due to the heinous, inhumane and cold-blooded nature of the case, the Court of Appeal sentenced Azlin to life imprisonment for murder in October 2022.
• Zin Mar Nwe
  , a Myanmar national and former maid who, at the age of 17, killed the 70-year-old mother-in-law of her employer by stabbing the victim 26 times in June 2018. She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 July 2023.
• Muhammad Salihin Ismail
  , a Singaporean man who was charged with the murder of his stepdaughter. Initially jailed for nine years with caning (12 strokes) for causing grievous hurt, the Court of Appeal allowed the prosecution's appeal and sentenced Salihin to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for the original charge of murder on 2 April 2024.
• Tan Sen Yang, a 32-year-old Singaporean found guilty of murdering 31-year-old chemist Satheesh Noel Gobidass at Orchard Towers
  in 2019. Tan was sentenced to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane on 25 April 2024.

• Beh Meng Chai, a Malaysian welder who was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences and 24 strokes of the cane
  on 8 October 1984 for killing two people during a 1980 armed robbery case
• Kwan Cin Cheng
  , a Malaysian who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in October 1996. He was originally charged with murder before the trial court found him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to ten years in prison. Although the prosecution lost their appeal for a murder conviction, the Court of Appeal increased Kwan’s jail term to life imprisonment in January 1998.
• Ong Teng Siew
  , a 27-year-old Malaysian chicken slaughterer who was originally condemned on death row for the murder of his 82-year-old friend and opium addict Ng Gee Seh, but after a re-trial based on new psychiatric evidence, his conviction for murder was reduced to manslaughter and his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in May 1998.
• Muhamad Hasik bin Sahar
  , a Singaporean gang member who, at age 22, was convicted of killing 17-year-old soccer player Sulaiman Hashim during a gang-related attack. He was sentenced to life in jail and 16 strokes of the cane on 9 May 2002.
• Saminathan Subramaniam, a Singaporean odd-job worker sentenced to life in prison and 18 strokes of the cane for killing his wife's godfather
  .
• Sundarti Supriyanto, an Indonesian maid who, at age 24, was initially charged with murder but later found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for the deaths of her 34-year-old employer Angie Ng Wee Peng (who abused and starved her) and Ng's three-year-old daughter Crystal Poh Shi Qi. She was sentenced to life imprisonment on 25 September 2004.
• Purwanti Parji, an Indonesian maid who, at age 17 years and ten months, killed her 57-year-old employer Har Chit Heang due to her rage over alleged maid abuse by Har. Originally charged with murder, Purwanti pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide and sentenced to life imprisonment on 29 September 2004.^[108][109]
• Siti Aminah served ten years in jail for the same offence.^[110]
• Mohammad Zam Abdul Rashid
  , a Singaporean caretaker who was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2006 for the 2005 manslaughter of his wife.
• G. Krishnasamy Naidu
  , a Singaporean taxi driver whose death sentence was commuted to life in prison after his conviction for murdering his wife was reduced to manslaughter upon appeal in October 2006.
• Lim Ah Liang, a 27-year-old Singaporean and male prostitute who killed his 35-year-old ex-lover Ho Kien Leong. As he suffered from a severe life-long condition of dysthymia (a chronic depressive disorder), Lim pleaded guilty to a lower charge of culpable homicide and sentenced to life imprisonment on 16 March 2007.^[111]
• Barokah
  , a 26-year-old Indonesian maid who was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing her elderly employer Wee Keng Wah in October 2005
• Soh Wee Kian, a 23-year-old Singaporean and former National Serviceman who was sentenced in August 2013 to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment for one charge of culpable homicide and another of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons. Soh, who suffered from adjustment disorder, had attacked four women during a nine-month crime spree between January and September 2010, leaving the first three victims seriously injured and the fourth stabbed to death.^[64]
• Sujay Solomon Sutherson, an Indian immigrant who, in 2012, suffered from a relapse of his schizophrenia and killed his 56-year-old mother Mallika Jesudasan before attempting to decapitate her and burn her body. Sujay was convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on 11 August 2015, and sentenced to life imprisonment a month later on 15 September 2015. Seven years later, on 8 September 2022, while he was serving his sentence at Changi Prison, Sujay died at the age of 41 in Changi General Hospital due to blood poisoning.^[112][113]
• Raja Vinayagar, a schizophrenic Singaporean who killed his eldest sister in August 2019. He was sentenced to life in prison on 14 September 2021, but spared the cane due to his age of 50.^[114]

Causing grievous hurt by dangerous means

• Ridzuan Mega Abdul Rahman
  , a jobless Singaporean (aged 30 in 2022) whose original murder charge was reduced to causing grievous hurt by dangerous means in relation to the fatal abuse of his five-year-old son, and his sentence was initially 27 years in jail before it was increased to a life sentence by the Court of Appeal on 12 July 2022.

Rape

• Alwi bin Masod, a Singaporean who received a life sentence and ten strokes of the cane on 8 January 1970 for raping a British woman. He was the first convicted rapist to be given life imprisonment in Singapore.^[115]
• Chua Kim Yong, a Singaporean who, on 7 October 1975, received a life term and 20 strokes of the cane for the rape of two little girls.^[116]
• Mohamed Said bin Tik, a Singaporean who was sentenced on 1 March 1976 to life imprisonment and ten strokes of the cane for raping nine-year-old schoolgirl Yatimah binte Abdul Rahman before leaving her to die. Said also received a concurrent sentence of ten years for the second charge of manslaughter with respect to killing Yatimah.^[117]
• Suahamad bin Mamin, a Singaporean who was sentenced to life in prison and 24 strokes of the cane on 17 July 1978 for the rape of three young girls aged between five and six.^[118]
• Tan Chin Beng, a Singaporean sentenced to life imprisonment and 25 strokes of the cane on 13 March 1984 for the rape of five young girls aged ten and below.^[119]
• Sim Ah Seng, a Singaporean who was sentenced to life for the rape of a 15-year-old student and also given 15 strokes of the cane for the same offence on 25 January 1985.^[120]

Arms-related crimes

• Nyu Kok Meng
  , a Malaysian who was found guilty of committing armed robbery while in possession of a firearm in 1983, when he was merely 19. Nyu was sentenced to life behind bars and caning of six strokes on 9 July 1985.
• Ong Leng Chye, Tan Soon Ai and Low Boon Tiong, the three armed robbers of the $1.4 million Poh Heng jewellery heist, who were all sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1993. Ong and Low received 12 strokes of the cane each while Tan received 18 strokes.^[121]
• Ng Theng Shuang, a Malaysian gunman sentenced to life in prison and ten strokes of the cane in 1994 for committing armed robbery with a firearm. However, Ng also received a death sentence for discharging a firearm during the same trial, and therefore, he was executed on 14 July 1995.
• Lim Peck Hui, a Singaporean secret society member, who at age 26, armed himself with a gun while committing the robbery of a businessman Chia Cheong Beng. On 19 September 2001, Lim was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment and eight strokes of the cane.^[122][123]
• Muhammad Iskandar bin Sa'at, a 23-year-old Singaporean and perpetrator of the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital shooting case. Iskandar was initially charged with the unlawful discharge of a firearm (which warrants the mandatory death penalty) before he was sentenced to life imprisonment and 18 strokes of the cane for a reduced charge of unlawful possession of a firearm to cause hurt to a public servant.^[124]

• Abdul Nasir Amer Hamsah, a 25-year-old Singaporean who was found guilty of kidnapping two police officers for ransom, and sentenced on 3 March 1997 to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane
  , in addition to a consecutive 18-year sentence and 18 strokes of caning for a fatal robbery case. His appeal against his life term was instrumental to the significant legal changes to the definition of life imprisonment under Singapore law.
• Zhou Jian Guang
  , the trio who were all sentenced to life in prison in April 2000 for the 1999 kidnapping of a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Lee, a Singaporean, was released on parole in June 2020.
• Chua Ser Lien and Tan Ping Koon, the two kidnappers who abducted a seven-year-old girl for ransom during Christmas Day of 2003. Both men were each sentenced to lifetime imprisonment and three strokes of the cane on 9 September 2004; Chua died in prison 17 years later due to suicide.
• Lee Sze Yong, the mastermind of the Sheng Siong kidnapping of 2014. He was sentenced to life in prison and three strokes of the cane on 1 December 2016.

Drug trafficking

• Sim Ah Cheoh, a Singaporean housewife and single parent with two sons. She was originally sentenced to death in 1988 for smuggling 1.37 kg of heroin before President Wee Kim Wee granted her clemency and commuted her sentence to life imprisonment on 25 March 1992. Her two accomplices were executed eight days after her date of pardon. Sim was later pardoned and released from prison in February 1995 due to terminal cancer, and died at the age of 47 a month later.
• Yong Vui Kong, a 19-year-old Malaysian who was originally sentenced to death in 2008 for smuggling 47g of heroin before the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane in a re-sentencing trial on 15 November 2013.
• Cheong Chun Yin, a Malaysian drug courier (aged 24 in 2008) who was originally sentenced to death in 2010 for smuggling 2.7 kg of heroin before the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane in a re-sentencing trial on 20 April 2015.
• Pang Siew Fum, a 60-year-old Malaysian drug trafficker and Cheong Chun Yin's accomplice who was originally sentenced to death in 2010 for smuggling 2.7 kg of heroin before the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in a re-sentencing trial on 20 April 2015, as a result of her major depressive disorder
  .
• Christeen Jayamany, a Singaporean drug courier who was caught importing 44.96g of diamorphine in 2011. She received a life sentence on 8 May 2017 but spared the cane since she was female, while her accomplice Datchinamurthy Kataiah
  was sentenced to death.
• Kalwant Singh Jogindar Singh
  were both hanged.
• Dominic Martin Fernandez, a Malaysian drug runner who was caught delivering 33.89g of diamorphine. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane on 8 August 2017. His accomplice Nazeri Lajim
  was hanged.
• Nuraiin Rosman, a Singaporean sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking in 2018. Her accomplices Ong Seow Ping and Abdul Rahim Shapiee
  were both hanged in August 2022.
• Muhammad Haikal bin Abdullah
  , a Malaysian drug courier sentenced to life in prison and 15 strokes of the cane in July 2018.
• Roszaidi Osman, a drug convict who was arrested and sentenced to death in January 2019 for trafficking 32.54g of pure heroin. After a series of appeals and re-trial, Roszaidi's death sentence was eventually commuted to life imprisonment by the Court of Appeal with a majority decision of 3 to 2 on 1 December 2022.^[125]

Attempted murder

• Jimmy Chua Hwa Soon, a 25-year-old Singaporean and Singapore Armed Forces
  (SAF) sergeant who was sentenced to life imprisonment on 14 April 1997 for the attempted murder of his four-year-old nephew during a knife attack. Chua, however, also received the death penalty for murdering the boy's 39-year-old mother Neo Lam Lye in the same case and he was thus executed.

This section covers the list of defendants, mainly Japanese army and Kempeitai officers, who were responsible for the war atrocities that occurred during the Japanese occupation of Singapore (1942–1945), and they were tried and sentenced to life terms in Singapore under British laws enacted by the colonial government:

• Takuma Nishimura, commander of the Imperial Guards Division. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 for initiating the Sook Ching massacre of Chinese civilians in Singapore. Nishimura was eventually sentenced to death and executed by an Australian military court in 1951 for additional war atrocities committed at Malaya (presently known as Malaysia).
• Yokota Yoshitaka [ja], Jyo Tomotatsu [ja], Onishi Satoru [ja], and Hisamatsu Haruji [ja], the four other Japanese military officials who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 for torturing and murdering both prisoners and civilians during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. All four of them, after serving five years out of their sentences, were eventually released in 1952 and deported to Japan, where they continued to serve the remainder of their sentences.^[126][127]
• Warrant Officer Sakamoto Shigeru, Sergeant Kasahara Hideo and Nigo Masayoshi (an interpreter), three of the 21 defendants who were charged and tried for war crimes in the 1946 Double Tenth incident trial. All three of them were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment while the rest were either acquitted, executed or served jail terms ranging between eight and fifteen years.^[128]

See also

• Life imprisonment
• Crime in Singapore
• Law of Singapore
• Capital punishment in Singapore
• Caning in Singapore
• List of major crimes in Singapore
• Oriental Hotel murder

References