Kidnapping and death

On the afternoon of 11 April 1989, Low Ah Kay, the wife of 56-year-old goldsmith Phang Tee Wah, received a phone call, who told them that Phang, who was supposed to meet a friend at Thomson Plaza, was kidnapped by them, and they demanded a ransom of S$1 million. Over ten phone calls were later made to Phang's wife and son, which similarly pushed for them to pay the ransom in return for Phang's safety, and instructed the family to sell the gold products of Phang's shop to raise the ransom. The callers also promised to send a phone recording of Phang's voice would be given to the family to let them know of his safety. Phang's family members negotiated with the kidnappers to reduce the ransom, and it was agreed that they would pay S$20,000 in exchange for Phang's release.^[1] However, they never paid up since there was a lack of guarantee that Phang was still alive. The police were contacted, and over 100 men were deployed to investigate the crime and monitor the situation, as well as identifying the suspects.^[2][3] The sudden reduction of ransom also made the police suspect that the kidnappers did not intend for Phang to come back alive.^[4]

Four days later, on the morning of 15 April 1989, a highly decomposed corpse was discovered abandoned at a secluded area around Pasir Ris, with the hands tied behind the back and a pillowcase covering the head. The police identified the deceased victim as Phang.^[5] Dr Wee Keng Poh, a forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on the victim and concluded that Phang died from strangulation, and it was believed that the kidnappers had killed Phang by strangling him with raffia string. Within a few hours after the discovery of Phang's corpse, two suspects were arrested at Yishun and Kallang.^[6][7]

Murder charges

The two suspects were identified as 44-year-old Liow Han Heng and 50-year-old friend Ibrahim Masod. Liow was Phang's former employee while Ibrahim, who worked as a security guard, was Liow's friend and driver. It was revealed that Liow had worked for three to four months under Phang in 1984 before he resigned due to his underperforming work attitude and performance.^[8][9] As Ibrahim also had previous convictions for armed robbery, the Police Tactical Unit was deployed to arrest Ibrahim. ^[10]

Liow and Ibrahim were both charged with murder on 17 April 1989. Their cases were later transferred to the High Court in September 1989 after some preliminary hearings by the district courts.^[11][12] The offence of murder carries the death penalty in Singapore if found guilty. Liow and Ibrahim also faced charges of kidnapping by ransom, which was punishable by either death or life imprisonment, with possible caning if the imposed sentence was life.^[13][14][15]

The director of CID Chua Cher Yak, in his public press conference, commended the efforts of the police investigators in catching the kidnappers, and that the extensive training of officers in anti-kidnap drills was crucial to helping the officers rendering timely response in kidnap cases.^[16] Before Phang's kidnapping and murder, the last kidnap-murder case occurred in May 1968, when a millionaire's 19-year-old son Ong Beang Leck was kidnapped and brutally killed by his captors. Three of the five abductors - Lee Chor Pet, Lim Kim Kwee and Ho Kee Fatt - were hanged in January 1973 for Ong's murder.^[17][18]

Trial proceedings

On 6 July 1992, both 47-year-old Liow Han Heng and 53-year-old Ibrahim bin Masod stood trial for the murder of 56-year-old Phang Tee Wah. The joint case of Liow and Ibrahim, together with the case of both Joseph Soon Kin Liang and Tan Chee Hwee who killed a Filipino maid during a burglary, became the first two cases to be heard by a single trial judge following the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code. Veteran judge T. S. Sinnathuray, who formerly tried and sentenced infamous child killer Adrian Lim to death back in 1983, was appointed to hear the case of Liow and Ibrahim.^[19]

It was revealed from the men's accounts that they both had a plan to kidnap Phang in order to extort ransom from Phang's family. Both Ibrahim and Liow lured Phang to Liow's Yishun flat by pretending to arrange to meet up with him. After the trio arrived at Liow's flat, Phang was tied up and gagged by the two kidnappers, and even stole Phang's watch. According to their admissions to police, Ibrahim and Liow separately called Phang's family to demand for a ransom of S$2 million and Ibrahim also went outside to sell Phang's watch for S$6,200 under a false identity. From this point, the prosecution, led by Christine Lee, alleged that the men had killed Phang with the purpose of silencing the goldsmith to avoid him from identifying both of them. The forensic pathologist, Dr Wee Keng Poh, testified that according to his autopsy results, he determined that Phang, who died from strangulation, had strangulation marks around the neck, and these bruises showed there was likely one or two persons strangling him with great force.

Ibrahim (represented by defence lawyer N Ganesan and Peter Cuthbert Low), who first made his defence, denied that he was involved in Phang's murder despite admitting to the kidnapping. He stated that Liow alone committed the killing while he was outside all the while selling the watch, and he only knew of Phang's death when Liow asked him to buy cardboard to dispose of the corpse. He stated he only did what he was told, and only helped to drive the vehicle and kidnap the goldsmith but not to kill him.^[20][21][22] Liow (represented by Thomas Tham and Anthony Lim Heng Yong), on the other hand, did not deny his responsibility in Phang's death but he claimed it was unintentional, as Phang apparently died due to suffocation from Liow gagging the victim on the mouth too much and he even called on a Malaysian doctor to testify that Phang did not die from strangulation as certified by Dr Wee. Liow also stated that at one point before Phang's death, he tried to get Phang to agree with him to commit insurance fraud in exchange for releasing the victim but Phang refused.^[23][24][25] The prosecution sought to discredit Ibrahim's defence as lies to absolve himself of his responsibility of the crime and rebutted Liow's defence, and they also argued that regardless of whoever being the person strangling Phang, they were both guilty in lieu of the common intention to commit kidnapping, since the murder was committed in concert of their intention to abduct Phang.^[26]

Verdict

On 23 July 1992, the trial judge T. S. Sinnathuray released his verdict. He rejected the defences of Liow and Ibrahim, finding that Liow had intentionally strangled Phang with the intention of causing his death, and that Ibrahim should be held equally responsible for the murder of Phang given that the victim died as a result of his abetment of Liow's actions, and the strangulation of Phang was made in furtherance of the common intention shared by both men to kidnap Phang for ransom. As such, both 47-year-old Liow Han Heng and 53-year-old Ibrahim bin Masod were found guilty of murder, and sentenced to death.^[27][28]

In response to her husband being sentenced to death, Ibrahim's wife, who often came to court with their four-year-old daughter, wept at the verdict,^[29] while Phang's widow applauded the verdict and told the press that "justice was served" for her husband and she found peace with the judgement.^[30]