Blood Lust Page 5

  According to plan, the $500,000 worth of gold bars which Ngo brought to Chou’s house that night for him to export out of Singapore were delivered to Catherine Tay. She had arranged for Tan Kay Hwa to buy the gold bars.

  Also charged with murder were Peter Lim Swee Guan (24 years old), a despatch clerk, Stephen Francis (20 years old), Alex Yau Hean Thye (19 years old), Richard James (18 years old), Konesekaram Nagalingam (18 years old) and two 16-year-olds—Ringo Lee Chiew Chwee and Stephen Lee Hock Khoon. All nine were accused jointly of being members of an unlawful assembly, one or more members of which murdered Ngo, Leong and Ang.

  Relating how the idea of robbing Ngo was mooted, Mr Rajendran said that from June 1969, Ngo had been making purchases of gold from the United Overseas Bank (UOB). In 1971, Ngo started exporting gold bars through Andrew who worked with Air Vietnam. Ngo would hand the gold to Andrew at Andrew’s house and Andrew would in turn pass the gold to the crew of Air Vietnam. Either Leong or Ang (Ngo’s employees) or both of them would assist Ngo in making these deliveries. For every kilo of gold he handed Andrew, Ngo paid him US$5: the crew of the aircraft paid him US$10 per kilogram. Andrew also delivered gold bars on behalf of Chee Pui Cheng, proprietor of Eastern Watch Company, and Lee Bor, proprietor of Lee Tong Heng Import and Export.

  Mr Rajendran said things changed after the US$235,000 were stolen in October by certain members of the airport staff. Most of the money was recovered, but relations between Andrew and the gold-exporting syndicates became strained. His income down, Andrew decided to rob and kill Ngo. Augustine and Peter were asked to look for a few boys to do the job. Peter was detailed to look for a suitable hiding place for the gold bars. On 20 November, Peter rounded up Stephen Lee, Alex Yau, Fernando Lee Beng Hong, William Soo Ah Seng, and a certain Anchor. That night at a coffee stall at Nicoll Drive in Changi, the Chou brothers explained the plan. They were to do the job in the house. Mr Rajendran said that although Fernando and Anchor agreed to take part, they had decided almost from the start that they would not take part in the killing but would only play along to get some money. In early December, they backed out and four more youths were chosen. They were Ringo Lee, Richard James, Stephen Francis and Konesekaram. One of them suggested that instead of burying the corpses, they dump them into a well in Changi. Andrew, Peter, Stephen, Alex, James and Augustine drove to Changi to see the well in Stephen’s father’s car the following night. They failed to reach it because the car had a punctured tyre.

  On 29 December, the night of the murder, on being told that $500,000 worth of gold bars were to be delivered to his house, Andrew told Augustine to round up his men. The group gathered in the Chou brothers’ yard behind the kitchen at 11:30 pm. Pieces of cloth were hung up to prevent people from looking into the yard. Andrew lifted a food cover on a table and showed the boys the nylon ropes that were to be used for strangling and tying up the victims. Mr Rajendran described how the three men were murdered and their bodies thrown into the back seat of a Volkswagen. The car was driven away and the bodies disposed of in Changi. The next morning, they were found by the police following an anonymous ‘999’ call. On 2 January, 115 gold bars were recovered from Catherine Tay’s house and five were found in David’s office.

  On the second day of the inquiry, a former airport employee at Singapore’s Paya Lebar Airport, Chua Nguan Key, then a hawker, told how he found a bag full of American currency in a driver’s cabin of a mobile gangway. The money was in US$50 and US$100 notes. He hid them in a dustbin near his home in Jalan Peria, off Jalan Eunos. Chua said he had never seen so much money in all his life. He could not sleep that night thinking about it. Two days later, the Chou brothers and Augustine came to his house looking for the money. The next day he returned the money wrapped in paper at Andrew’s house. Andrew was jubilant, but the following day he came back to Chua’s house and said that some of the notes were missing. Chua said he promised to try to find them. Chua said he consequently went back to the dustbin and poured out its contents. Among the debris he found nine travellers’ cheques and a few small packets containing American dollar notes and more travellers’ cheques. The total value came to more than US$40,000. The next day he took them to Andrew. Andrew was happy.

  Dr Chao Tze Cheng, forensic pathologist from Outram Road Hospital, gave evidence that Ngo, Leong and Ang had been strangled to death. They must have died within one to three minutes. He found green nylon ropes round the necks of Ngo and Leong. Ngo had 14 wounds. Ang’s scalp was bruised and some of his ribs broken. His jaw was broken. His spine was fractured at the neck.

  On the third day of the inquiry, Goh Cheng Hong, wife of Ngo, told the magistrate that when her husband failed to return home she suspected he had been kidnapped. “I never for a moment imagined he would be killed.” She thought her husband had been waylaid and held captive while on his way to deliver the 120 gold bars. “I thought my husband’s disappearance had something to do with his association with many secret societies. This was because my husband kept a woman, one Rose Chan Mui Huat, living in Katong, to whom he had to pay $500 a month.” Madam Goh said when she returned home from Andrew’s home she telephoned her friends and told them she could not find her husband. “They told me he had probably gone scouting for girls. I did not mention the gold bars,” she said.

  Testifying on the fourth day of the inquiry, Catherine Tay (45 years old) described herself as a broker who helped dispose of 10 of the 120 stolen gold bars. She said she expected a commission for selling them. Augustine Ang had asked her to sell them for him. The buyer was Tan Kay Wah, alias Mohamed Amin bin Abdullah of North Bridge Road. When he paid her $40,000, she made a hole in a pillow and stuffed as much as she could into the pillow, stitched the hole, and put the balance, between $5,000 and $6,000, in a tin.

  On the fifth day of the inquiry, Augustine Ang, the key witness, demonstrated how Andrew Chou and his brother, David, choked Ngo to death. Mr David Marshall volunteered to play the role of Ngo. Mr Marshall took off his jacket and lay down on the floor of the Court. Augustine lay beside him and slipped his right hand around counsel’s neck. Joining hands, Augustine neck-locked Mr Marshall and started choking him. The magistrate recorded his observation of the demonstration. Back in the witness box, Augustine said Andrew Chou choked Ngo in this way. He said he saw David Chou doing the same thing to Leong.

  Augustine said: “At one stage I remember David suggested we use a rope to strangle the victims, but Andrew said it would be preferable to use an iron rod wrapped in cloth.”

  Replying to counsel’s questions, Augustine said he took part in the triple slayings because he ‘wanted to become rich’. He added that it was on the advice of his counsel that he decided to testify against his friends. Asked if his motive was to ‘save your neck’, he replied that he was not prepared to perjure himself. He denied he had been assured of a ‘free pardon or a release from detention’.

  Counsel: Have you turned over a new leaf since detention?

  Augustine: That is a very personal question.

  Magistrate: Answer it.

  Augustine: Yes.

  Konesekaram’s voluntary statement made to a magistrate, Mr Richard Magnus, was read out on the seventh day of the inquiry.

  In it he denied that he and five of his friends were responsible for the death of Ngo and his assistants. The Chou brothers and Augustine murdered them. “I and my friends were to remove three dead bodies and then bury them. There would be a payment of $8,000.” For his part in the disposal of the bodies he received $1,000.

  On the eighth day of the inquiry, the statement voluntarily made by Richard James to Mr Richard Magnus was read out. James wrote: “After a while we heard sounds like someone being choked. When we came out of the kitchen, we saw two bodies behind the back door. There was a body near the fence. I kicked the nearest body. There was no sound. I stooped and delivered a few punches. Still no sound. I looked at the fence. There was a body. That man was calling for help. I saw Andrew and David using karate chops on his neck.” He
said the bodies were piled up in a Volkswagen. “We drove to Bedok. We threw the bodies away.” After he was paid, “we went out to enjoy. We went to nightclubs.”

  A third confession by Stephen Francis was tendered by another magistrate, Mr Chandra Mohan. “We were all sitting in the kitchen. I heard a shout for help. We all came out. I saw a body lying in front of the kitchen. Another body was lying nearby. David said, ‘Take the string and tie his neck.’ I kicked the cheek of the body lying in front of the kitchen face downwards. There was no sound. David told me to take a string and tie his neck. I and Konis took the string and tugged at his neck with it. David said, ‘Faster. Tie his hands too.’ On the left side I saw David and Augustine kneeling while David used a karate chop on the neck of a man lying beside the first body. I heard a car door slam. The neighbour was coming home. David and Augustine pulled a third body and placed it near the first. David took a cloth and covered the three bodies. He used two pieces of cloth to block the lights from the kitchen.”

  Extracts from a fourth confession made by Ringo Lee before Mr Chandra Mohan on 12 January 1972 were also read out. Ringo said he knew nothing about the gold bar robbery. He heard sounds of assault and cries of pain. When Andrew called out, ‘I gave two or three blows to the abdomen of one of the three people. This man shouted when I punched him. Two of the three people were already knocked out. Andrew asked me and Stephen to make sure they were dead. Each one of us pulled at one end of the rope. I saw the person I had hit was motionless. Konis and Stephen strangled another man who was already dead. I tied the hands of the person I had strangled.’ All four confessions were challenged by defence counsel at the inquiry.

  ***

  On 16 May, all nine men charged with the murder of Ngo and his two assistants were committed to stand trial in the High Court. At the close of the nine-day inquiry, the Senior State Counsel, Mr S. Rajendran, tendered three amended charges in place of the original two. The amended charges accused them of murdering Ngo and his two assistants, Leong and Ang, of being members of an illegal assembly whose common object was to cause the deaths of Ngo and the others, and that one or more members of this assembly consequently committed murder by causing the death of Ngo, Leong and Ang. All the accused reserved their defence. They were ordered to be remanded pending trial. Detective Inspector Oh Chye Bee told the Court he had seized $175,000 from Stephen Lee and $1,800 from Alex Yau.

  Eight years later, Oh was himself charged with misappropriating $3,550 of the money. The money was found to be missing in 1979 when the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau studied the investigation papers.

  The Trials

  THE TRIAL WAS FIXED FOR 9 OCTOBER, but in September it was announced that Mr Francis Seow had withdrawn from the case as lawyer for the Chou brothers. Mr Wong Peng Khoon was assigned to defend Andrew Chou and Mr Giam Chin Toon was assigned to defend David Chou. Mr Govinda Gopalan defended Peter Lim; Mr Leo Fernando appeared for Alex Yau; Mr John Tan Chor Yong for Ringo Lee and Stephen Lee; and Mr N.C. Goho for Richard James, Stephen Francis and Konesekaram. Mr T.W. Ong held a watching brief for Mr J. Sadasivan, an airline station manager; Mr S.K. Lee for Goh Cheng Hong (widow of Ngo), Cheong Kim Seng (a witness) and three gold dealers, Chin Yam, Lee Bor and Mah Liong Kim; and Mr P. Suppiah for the prosecution witness, Augustine Ang.

  Mr A.W. Ghows, the Solicitor-General, prosecuted. The two brothers and the seven youths appeared before Justice Chua, presiding, and Justice Choor Singh. They all pleaded not guilty.

  In his opening address, Mr Ghows said that since June 1969, Ngo had bought gold from the United Overseas Bank as a mandatory of Gui Liat Koh, a foreign national. In 1971, Ngo exported gold

  through Andrew Chou, but in October that year, after a bag containing money for Andrew was stolen, the syndicates stopped doing business with Andrew but went to Ngo. In early November, Andrew and David formed the idea of robbing and killing whoever sent the next consignment of gold bars. They discussed this plot with Augustine Ang and Peter Lim, who were asked to look for a few boys to do the job for $20,000. The case for the prosecution was that Ngo and his two assistants were beaten up and strangled to death in the Chous’ home when they delivered 120 gold bars at about midnight on 29 December. Mr Ghows was assisted by two Deputy Public Prosecutors, Mr Loh Lin Kok and Mr Ong Jin Hoe.

  Mr N.C. Goho, defence counsel, suggested that the four confessions were made after the four men had been placed on a starvation diet of one meal a day consisting of a small amount of rice and an old fish. Inspector Oh denied this. He said the prisoners were given three meals a day. All nine men told the Court that they had been beaten up by the police and forced to give information and make statements. Stephen Lee said that a detective pointed a gun at his back during interrogation and threatened to shoot him if he did not tell the truth. He said when he turned around to look at the detective, another detective hit him with a piece of wood. Stephen Lee said Detective Oh slapped him several times. On the third day, he said, Inspector Oh’s attitude changed and he became very friendly and offered him cake and coffee. He told him not to be afraid because he was wanted only as a prosecution witness. He said later he was told he was not wanted as a witness because he did not know how to give evidence. Oh told him Augustine Ang would be a better speaker. “Further, he told me I need not be afraid as I would not be hanged because I was only 16 or 17 years old.”

  Mr Ghows suggested that Stephen Lee’s allegations about assaults, threats and inducements were ‘a complete fabrication’.

  The High Court decided to admit all the confessions as evidence. The Judges said they were satisfied that they were given voluntarily without any promise, threat or inducement.

  Goh, Ngo’s widow, told the Court that her husband, on the day of his murder, returned home from work at about 5:00 pm. After taking his dinner and playing with their 15-month-old daughter, he went upstairs to wrap the 120 gold bars. She helped him. The gold was wrapped in 24 packets of five bars each. Leong and Ang arrived at about 9:00 pm. The telephone upstairs rang at 11:25 pm and she picked it up. She recognised the caller as Andrew Chou who asked for her husband. She handed the telephone over to her husband. After a two-minute conversation, he went downstairs to change. Later, after the gold bars were placed in the Mercedes Benz, Ngo, Leong and Ang drove off. She locked up and sat on the sofa waiting for her husband to return.

  Mr Wong, Andrew’s counsel, suggested that she had fabricated her evidence so as to get Andrew convicted of murdering her husband. Ngo’s widow said she bore no malice against Andrew. “I have no feeling against him. The matter is for the law to decide.”

  Augustine Ang went into the witness box on 31 October. He ended his testimony 10 days later. During most of this time, he was cross-examined by six defence counsel representing the nine accused. He said that the Chou brothers attacked the three victims and that he helped them. He told Mr Wong that he became a prosecution witness to save his own neck, but he denied he had been granted a pardon. He was a Criminal Law detainee. Augustine said he had been made a prosecution witness because he ‘cooperated with the police and told them the whole truth’. He denied Mr Wong’s suggestion that he was the one who first suggested a plan to rob the victims of their gold. He said it was Andrew’s idea to kill and then rob. Ang said the victims had to be killed ‘otherwise they would take their revenge’.

  Asked how he felt on the evening Andrew told him to get the boys ready as somebody would be delivering gold that night, Augustine said he felt as usual. He did not feel excited or anxious. He said he took his girlfriend out to dinner and took her home before contacting the boys.

  Augustine admitted to Mr Goho that he had made some mistakes in his evidence in the preliminary inquiry because he was ‘a bit scared’. Ang agreed with counsel that the boys had never been told that the victims were to be robbed of gold. He also agreed that the main reason for telling the boys to stay in the kitchen that night was to prevent them from seeing the gold.

  Counsel: Why did you want the boys not to
see the gold?

  Augustine: If they were to see the gold they might demand more money.

  Augustine denied counsel’s suggestion that it was Ang’s intention to use the boys as stooges to take the blame and put the police off the track of the real culprits.

  Fernando Lee gave evidence that he backed out of the plot to kill Ngo and the others after he received $650 as part payment for the job. He told the High Court he never intended to do the job and that, as an excuse for backing out, he made up the story that one of the boys originally recruited had been detained by the police. Fernando said: “I understood Augustine to mean that he wanted us to beat the men to death. The job was to be done clean and quiet. There was to be no bloodshed. No weapon to be used except wood and rope.”

  ***

  The Solicitor-General closed his case on the 30th day of the trial after calling 47 witnesses. He offered 12 other witnesses to the defence. The last witness for the prosecution was Detective Inspector Oh Chye Bee, the Investigation Officer in the case. He told the High Court how he found the bodies of the three victims in Bedok on 30 December 1971. He said he saw green nylon ropes around the necks of Ngo and Leong. Ang’s body was lying in a pond and there was a piece of rope lying on top of his body.