Murder of Karuppan Velusamy

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Karuppan Velusamy
Born
Karuppan Velusamy

c. 1921
India
Died1 February 1973 (aged 52)
Jalan Berseh, Jalan Besar, Singapore
Cause of deathFatal head injuries
NationalityIndian
Other namesKaroppan Velasamy
Kurubbun Velusamy
OccupationUnemployed
Known forMurder victim

On 1 February 1973, 52-year-old Karuppan Velusamy, a one-armed jobless man, was brutally murdered while sleeping along a five-foot way street in Jalan Berseh, off Jalan Besar in Singapore. Velusamy's killer was not arrested until less than a week after his death, when 26-year-old labourer Ismail bin U. K. Abdul Rahman was caught as a suspect in killing Velusamy. Ismail, who earlier confessed to committing the murder due to a misunderstanding between him and the victim, denied in court that he was the perpetrator and put up a defence of alibi, claiming he was sleeping at his girlfriend's home at the time of the offence. After some deliberation, the High Court found Ismail guilty of murdering Velusamy and sentenced him to death, after rejecting his alibi defence and accepting both his confession and the evidence of two men who saw or heard Ismail killing Velusamy. In the aftermath, Ismail's appeals were dismissed, and he was hanged on 28 February 1975.[1]

Murder investigation

On the morning of 1 February 1973, an elderly one-armed man was found dead at a PUB quarters in Jalan Berseh, off Jalan Besar in Singapore.[2][3]

The deceased old man, identified as 52-year-old Karuppan Velusamy, was first discovered at a five-foot way with several open wounds on his body, either caused by slashing or stabbing, and a bloodstain shaped like a palmprint was discovered nearby. Residents living nearby the area reportedly heard a commotion from the ground floor of the quarters at around 4am, and Velusamy's death was first reported five hours after the supposed commotion, which was likely an attack initiated on Velusamy's life. Velusamy's death was believed to be caused by a group of men armed with deadly weapons, based on speculations and theories that the police considered during investigations. Velusamy, whose wife and son were living in India, was jobless for many years and he spent at least ten years on social welfare financial schemes, and he lived with his relatives in Singapore. Velusamy was revealed to have lost his right arm due to a bombing during World War II. His relative Adimoolam Vadivelu also told the press that Velusamy was good to people around him and he never had any grudges with anyone.[4][5][6]

Professor Chao Tzee Cheng, a senior forensic pathologist, conducted a post-mortem examination (or autopsy) on Velusamy, and based on his autopsy findings, Professor Chao found that Velusamy sustained traumatic head injuries on his body, and two major fractures (measured 4 cm and 6 cm respectively) were located on the lower side of his skull, and another two skull fractures were inflicted below his right eye, and these injuries were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.[7]

On 8 February 1973, a week after Velusamy was murdered, it was reported that the police arrested a suspect behind the murder at Serangoon Road,[8][9] and he was thereafter held in remand while pending further investigations by the police. On that same day itself, another man was also apprehended for a separate murder case that had no relation to the Velusamy case.[10][11]

Ismail's murder trial

On 8 October 1973, the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Ismail bin U. K. Abdul Rahman, was officially brought to trial at the High Court for murdering Karuppan Velusamy some six months back. G. Gopalan represented Ismail during the trial while the prosecution was led by Alan Wong, and the trial was presided by two veteran judges: Justice Frederick Arthur Chua (F A Chua) and Justice Tan Ah Tah.[12]

The trial court was told that due to a past misunderstanding that occurred between Ismail and the victim Velusamy, whom Ismail accidentally banged onto before it escalated into an argument between the two men, and due to the past dispute, Ismail had attacked Velusamy and therefore fatally assaulted him. In fact, in a statement dated 17 February 1973, which was written after he was arrested and charged for Velusamy's murder, Ismail had admitted to using a

changkol to hack Velusamy three times on his head and hence battering him to death. During the stage of the prosecution's case, one of the prosecution's witnesses was Muthu Kamaru, who was sleeping nearby Velusamy at the time of the attack, and he witnessed Ismail attacking and assaulting Velusamy with a changkol, and Muthu alleged that Ismail threatened him in Tamil if he wanted to meet the same fate as Velusamy. Another key witness for the prosecution was Mohammed Micha, who testified that on the day of the murder, after the crime was committed, Ismail had admitted to him that he had beaten Velusamy and caused his death.[13][14][15]

On 12 October 1973, Ismail elected to put up his defence after the close of the prosecution's case.[16] In his defence, Ismail claimed that he was sleeping at his girlfriend's home at Sam Leong Road, and he was never at the scene of crime, and he only read about the crime on the paper a day after it happened. Ismail also claimed his confession to Inspector Michael Won was not given voluntarily and the police investigator had threatened him to confess. The defence also tried to raise doubts over the validity of the testimonies given by the two key prosecution witnesses during the trial.[17][18][19]

On 15 October 1973, Justice Tan Ah Tah and Justice F A Chua delivered their verdict, with Justice Chua pronouncing the sentence in court. In the joint judgement, which was made 90 minutes after the stage of closing submissions, Justice Chua stated that they rejected Ismail's alibi defence and opted to accept that Ismail indeed killed Velusamy since he confessed to committing the murder in his cautioned statement, and there were also witnesses who knew about his involvement in the crime, one having witnessed Ismail at the scene of crime while the other hearing Ismail telling him that he killed Velusamy. Justice Chua also said that the judges were inclined to accept the prosecution's arguments that Ismail had mercilessly battered Velusamy to death and believe that Ismail's statement was truthful and voluntarily made, and they thus ruled that Ismail should be held fully culpable for the merciless slaying of Velusamy on that fateful day of 1 February 1973.[20][21][22]

As such, Ismail was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. Prior to 2013, the death penalty was classified as the mandatory sentence for all four degrees of murder under the Singaporean Penal Code.[23][24]

As of February 1974, Ismail was one of 17 people held on death row in Changi Prison,[25] and the number dropped to 15 by October 1974, with Ismail and the remaining 14 people convicted of murder still awaiting their executions.[26]

Appeal process

While he was incarcerated on death row at Changi Prison, Ismail appealed to the Court of Appeal against his conviction and sentence.[27][28] His defence counsel R Murugason argued that there was barely any evidence against Ismail to prove the murder charge except for his cautioned statement in which he admitted to murdering Velusamy, and also raised a defence of alcohol intoxication on behalf of Ismail. On 25 April 1974, the Court of Appeal dismissed Ismail's appeal and upheld both his murder conviction and death sentence. The three appellate judges - Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin and two Supreme Court judges Choor Singh and A V Winslow - rejected the defence's arguments and they also cited that apart from Ismail's statement that he was drunk, the defence did not bring forward any other evidence to substantiate it.[29][30][31]

After losing his appeal, Ismail filed a motion for special leave to appeal to the

Queen's Counsel Dingle Foot argued on behalf of Ismail that his statements should not have been admitted and he raised doubts over the validity of the two prosecution witnesses who claimed to hear or saw Ismail killing Velusamy. However, on 5 December 1974, Ismail's application was rejected by the Privy Council, which dismissed the defence's case.[32]

As a final recourse to escape the gallows, Ismail petitioned to the President of Singapore for clemency, with hopes to commute his death sentence to life in prison. However, then President Benjamin Sheares rejected his final death row plea for clemency, and therefore confirmed the death penalty in Ismail's case.

Execution

On the Friday morning of 28 February 1975, 28-year-old Ismail bin U. K. Abdul Rahman was hanged in Changi Prison.[33] Ismail was one of the eight criminals to be executed during that same morning; the remaining seven convicts were a pair of brothers Andrew Chou and David Chou, and another five youngsters who were all found guilty of murdering three gold smugglers to rob them of 120 gold bars in 1971.[34][35] The case, known as the Gold Bars triple murders, was committed by the seven condemned and three other accomplices, two of whom were minors and thus imprisoned under the President's Pleasure rather than facing execution, and a third man turned state evidence against the nine others and therefore detained indefinitely without trial under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act.[36]

Reportedly, over 200 friends and relatives, consisting of those of Ismail and the seven Gold Bar killers, gathered outside the jail to reclaim the bodies of the eight men, who were all put to death within 20 minutes; the first six of the eight men were hanged in batches of three before the remaining two were executed altogether.[37] The State Coroner, several doctors and prison officers were present at the gallows when the eight men's death sentences were officially carried out.[38]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mereka pun digantung". Berita Harian (in Malay). 1 March 1975.
  2. ^ "Jobless one-armed man on the dole murdered". The Straits Times. 2 February 1973.
  3. ^ "劳工宿舍內恐怖命案 一名獨臂印籍老人 在夢鄕中遭人砍斃". Sin Chew Jit Poh (in Chinese). 2 February 1973.
  4. ^ "惹蘭白錫公用事業局工人宿舍發生一驚人謀殺案獨臂老印人身有三刀傷臥屍帆布床上牆壁印有一鮮紅血手印". Nanyang Siang Pau (in Chinese). 2 February 1973.
  5. ^ "One-armed man is slashed to death". New Nation. 1 February 1973.
  6. ^ "惹蘭白錫公用事業局工人宿舍發生命案 獨臂老翁半夜遇害 頭胸被斬僵斃布床 現塲牆上留有血手印案情離奇耐人尋味 案發夜有人目覩手持利器人影多條遁去". Xin Ming Ri Bao (in Chinese). 2 February 1973.
  7. ^ "夜宿公用事業局工友宿舍走廊上出事 獨臂翁遭人殺害案 嫌兇被控謀殺罪名". Xin Ming Ri Bao (in Chinese). 9 October 1973.
  8. ^ "Suspect held". New Nation. 7 February 1973.
  9. ^ "獨臂老翁遭謀殺案 警方閃電捕一嫌犯". Xin Ming Ri Bao (in Chinese). 8 February 1973.
  10. ^ "Murder suspects held". The Straits Times. 8 February 1973.
  11. ^ "警方昨拘捕 两謀杀嫌犯". Sin Chew Jit Poh (in Chinese). 8 February 1973.
  12. ^ "One-armed man hacked to death: DPP". The Straits Times. 9 October 1973.
  13. ^ "獨臂印籍老翁睡夢中遭慘殺案一名同籍靑年被控以木棍擊斃該老翁死者頭部有四傷痕頭蓋骨破裂". Nanyang Siang Pau (in Chinese). 9 October 1973.
  14. ^ "一名印族獨臂老漢 梦鄕中遭人杀害 高庭昨開审該案". Sin Chew Jit Poh (in Chinese). 9 October 1973.
  15. ^ "Ismail yang dituduh masih ditahan". Berita Harian (in Malay). 9 October 1973.
  16. ^ "Berita2 dari mahkamah". Berita Harian (in Malay). 13 October 1973.
  17. ^ "獨臂印人睡夢中遭殺害被吿答辯否認曾經毆擊死者". Nanyang Siang Pau (in Chinese). 13 October 1973.
  18. ^ "Murder case man in 'sensitive state'". The Straits Times. 13 October 1973.
  19. ^ "印族独臂汉遇害案续审 被吿开始上庭答辯". Sin Chew Jit Poh (in Chinese). 13 October 1973.
  20. ^ "Death for murder of one-armed man". The Straits Times. 16 October 1973.
  21. ^ "印族独臂汉被杀害案 謀殺罪名成立 被吿遭處絞刑". Sin Chew Jit Poh (in Chinese). 16 October 1973.
  22. ^ "Dijatuhkan hukum mati kerana membunuh". Berita Harian (in Malay). 16 October 1973.
  23. ^ "謀殺獨臂老人被告遭判死刑". Nanyang Siang Pau (in Chinese). 16 October 1973.
  24. ^ "印籍獨臂老人過害案 謀殺罪成殺人者死 巫籍靑年判上絞台". Xin Ming Ri Bao (in Chinese). 16 October 1973.
  25. ^ "The 17 who wait in Death Row at Changi". The Straits Times. 4 February 1974.
  26. ^ "15 WAIT TO BE HANGED". New Nation. 5 October 1974.
  27. ^ "被判謀杀独臂汉死囚 昨上訴遭駁囘". Sin Chew Jit Poh (in Chinese). 26 April 1974.
  28. ^ "殺害印籍獨臂老人 最高法院駁回 巫籍死囚上訴". Xin Ming Ri Bao (in Chinese). 26 April 1974.
  29. ^ "印籍青年謀殺老人被判極刑死囚昨提出上訴理由不足遭駁囘最高上訴庭三司諭維持原判". Nanyang Siang Pau (in Chinese). 26 April 1974.
  30. ^ "Appeal against death sentence fails". The Straits Times. 26 April 1974.
  31. ^ "Hukuman mati Ismail Rahman kerana kesalahan membunuh dikekalkan terus". Berita Harian (in Malay). 26 April 1974.
  32. ^ "Man who killed fails in Privy Council plea". The Straits Times. 6 December 1974.
  33. ^ "The eighth man". New Nation. 28 February 1975.
  34. ^ "Eight killers go to the gallows". The Straits Times. 1 March 1975.
  35. ^ "金条三屍命案七死囚昨日受绞刑正法另一巫人也因谋杀罪受绞刑八人屍体上午皆由家属領走". Nanyang Siang Pau (in Chinese). 1 March 1975.
  36. ^ "Guilty As Charged: Seven who killed for 120 gold bars hanged". The Straits Times. 16 May 2016.
  37. ^ "EIGHT KILLERS HANGED". New Nation. 28 February 1975.
  38. ^ "轟動遐邇黃金三屍案 七名死囚昨正法". Sin Chew Jit Poh (in Chinese). 1 March 1975.
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