On 22 January 1995, 47-year-old Lee Kok Yin (李国贤 Lǐ Guóxián), a Singaporean taxi driver, was murdered by four Thai workers during a robbery bid at Woodlands. After four months of investigation, two of the four suspects were arrested while the remaining two attackers remained at large.
After their arrests, the first two suspects, Pracha Thanomnin and Kraisak Sakha, were charged and brought to trial for one count of murdering Lee and sentenced to death, although only Pracha's death sentence was upheld upon appeal while Kraisak's punishment was commuted to six strokes of the cane (which was later commuted) and five years' imprisonment for a reduced charge of attempted robbery. Pracha, who lost his appeal, was eventually hanged on 10 January 1997. As of today, the other two alleged killers, identified only as "Dorn" and "Wan", are still at large.
Murder
On 22 January 1995, two policemen on patrol nearby a construction site in Woodlands discovered the corpse of a taxi driver inside his taxi (its engine was still running),[1] which was abandoned at the area itself.
The victim, identified as 47-year-old Lee Kok Yin (a Singaporean citizen), had a gaping knife wound on the right side of his neck,[2] and according to forensic pathologist Dr Wee Keng Poh, the wound itself was fatal enough to cause Lee to die from an excessive loss of blood.[3] His watch and cash (SGD$129 in his shirt pocket and SGD$20 in his wallet) were left untouched in the taxi and both a wallet and a bloodstained cap was also left behind.[4][5][6] The police believed that the motive was robbery, and it was likely that the assailant(s) could have pretended to be passengers in order to board Lee's taxi before attempting to rob and also kill him.[7]
Known to be a dedicated father and husband and also a good co-worker with a thrifty personality, Lee was married with a seven-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter at the time of his death, and lived in a HDB flat at Jurong East. All of Lee's family members (including his sister, wife and children), friends and colleagues were devastated to receive news of his death, hoping that the alleged killer(s) be brought to justice. They also could not understand why did the attacker(s) target Lee, who did not have any bad relationships and often dedicated himself to an honest living.[8][9][10][11] It was revealed that a long time ago, Lee was also a victim of robbery but unlike the present case where he was murdered, Lee escaped unharmed after he willingly handed over his valuables to the robber(s); it was not known if the culprits of this prior case were arrested and convicted.[12] Aside from this, Lee had worked for seven to eight years as a taxi driver before his death.[13]
Investigations
The Singapore Police Force classified the death of Lee Kok Yin as murder, and the investigations, led by Inspector Richard Lim Beng Gee, swiftly began, starting with the interrogation of nearly 300 foreign workers living in the dormitories nearby the crime scene,[14][15][16] and Commander Heng Swee Keat, who would eventually become Singapore's 11th Deputy Prime Minister, ordered an operation to search the crime scene and activated 150 policemen to take part in the operation.[17] A month later, police investigators also released a public appeal, seeking the assistance of one Thai worker named Sowat Jaroensil in their investigations behind the killing of Lee.[18][19][20][21]
Four months after Lee was murdered, on 8 May 1995, Kraisak Sakha, a 25-year-old illegal worker who hailed from Thailand, was approached by the police at a construction site, where he was arrested as a suspect for murdering Lee Kok Yin. Twelve days later, on 20 May 1995, after he was drunk and brought to hospital, 28-year-old Thai worker Pracha Thanomnin, one of Kraisak's three alleged accomplices, was arrested and charged for killing the taxi driver four months before. The remaining two assailants, known only as "Wan" and "Dorn", were never caught.[22]
Trial of Kraisak and Pracha
On 8 January 1996, both Kraisak Sakha and Pracha Thanomnin stood trial at the High Court for a single count of murdering Lee Kok Yin. Pracha was represented by N Ganesan and Abdul Salim, while Kraisak was represented by both Ang Chin Peng and Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed. Mathavan Devadas was in charge of prosecuting both Pracha and Kraisak, whose cases were jointly presided by Judicial Commissioner Amarjeet Singh.[23][24]
During the trial (and earlier during police investigations), Kraisak confessed that he was present at the crime scene but he never killed the taxi driver. Instead, he pinpointed Pracha as the person who directly killed Lee during the robbery bid. Kraisak's account was that on the fateful day of 22 January 1995 itself, after they had hatched a plan to commit robbery, Pracha, Wan, Dorn and he himself hailed a taxi, driven by Lee, from Hougang to Woodlands, where their dormitory were located. Kraisak testified that after reaching Woodlands, when he was waiting for the taxi driver to return him the change, he witnessed Pracha suddenly brandishing a knife and plunged it into the taxi driver's throat, resulting in the death of 47-year-old Lee Kok Yin, who resisted during the stabbing. Kraisak tried to leave the taxi and did not want to partake in the stabbing but he was stopped from leaving by the others. Kraisak added that during the stabbing, Wan was the one who restrained the taxi driver. Although they wanted to steal the belongings (specifically money and valuables) of Lee, the four Thai workers quickly abandoned the attempt and left the crime scene after they spotted a passing vehicle heading towards the location. During the escape, Kraisak accidentally dropped his wallet (containing his access card written with Kraisak's fake identity) at the taxi, which resulted in his arrest four months after Lee was murdered.[25]
Pracha, on the other hand, completely denied that he participated in the robbery-murder and rather, he put up an alibi defence that he and some friends were drinking alcohol at another location at the time of the murder, although his claims were not corroborated by any witnesses of the trial. Pracha repeatedly denied the contentions of the prosecution and Kraisak's defence counsel that he actually participated in the robbery and murder, and even claimed that he was not aware of the crime until he overheard Kraisak and the two missing killers Wan and Dorn discussing about killing a man during a robbery attempt.[26][27]
On 30 January 1996, Judicial Commissioner Singh delivered his verdict. Judicial Commissioner Singh found that both Pracha and Kraisak, together with both "Dorn" and "Wan", had the common intention to commit robbery, and he found that the stabbing of Lee by Pracha was done in furtherance of the group's common intention (rendering every member responsible for causing Lee's death), and Pracha also possessed the intent to cause fatal harm to Lee. Consequently, Judicial Commissioner Singh rejected Pracha's alibi defence and also in turn, rejected Kraisak's argument that he never had the intention to commit murder.
On these grounds, Judicial Commissioner Singh found both 26-year-old Kraisak Sakha and 29-year-old Pracha Thanomnin guilty of the murder of 47-year-old Lee Kok Yin, and sentenced both of them to the mandatory death penalty upon their conviction. Under the laws of Singapore, capital punishment was mandated as the sole punishment for murder and judges also had no discretion to mete out any other sentence aside from death to offenders guilty of murder.[28][29]
Kraisak's appeal and reprieve
After he was sentenced to death, Kraisak appealed his conviction and sentence. His appeal was heard four months after the end of his trial.
On 24 May 1996, the Court of Appeal's three judges - M Karthigesu, L P Thean and Goh Joon Seng - unanimously allowed Kraisak's appeal, and set aside both his death sentence and murder conviction, effectively allowing Kraisak to successfully escape the gallows. Justice Karthigesu, who delivered the appellate court's ruling, stated that based on their review of Kraisak's statements, it was clear that Kraisak confessed to committing robbery but not murder, and although there was a common intention between Kraisak, Pracha (who also appealed) and the other two attackers to commit robbery, there was more than a reasonable doubt with regards to the true extent of Kraisak's continued involvement in the robbery-murder, since he has showed signs of backing out during the stabbing of Lee Kok Yin and had "discerned a show of violence", and there was an inference that the knife could only be meant to intimidate Lee. Therefore, they decided to give Kraisak the benefit of the doubt, and instead found him guilty of attempted robbery, and sentenced him to five years of imprisonment with six strokes of the cane. Kraisak's lawyer Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed submitted a mitigation plea before the appellate court's sentencing that Kraisak wished to return home as early as possible and was plagued with trauma over the robbery and murder of Lee. Kraisak's sentence was backdated to the date of his arrest on 8 May 1995.[30]
Four months later, in September 1996, Kraisak re-appeared in court, filing a motion to be spared from caning on medical grounds. Prison doctors had examined Kraisak and found that he was medically unfit to receive caning, due to Kraisak being diagnosed with an unspecified terminal illness. Mohamed, who remained as Kraisak's lawyer, additionally argued that his client should not be given another jail term in lieu of caning on behalf of his poor health condition and revealed that Kraisak wished to return to Thailand as early as possible in order to spend his remaining days there with his family. After hearing the appeal, the Court of Appeal agreed to allow Kraisak to only serve five years in prison as previously ruled but spared him from the cane. They also agreed to Mohamed's request to not extend his client's prison sentence in lieu of caning.[31]
Fate of Pracha
Like Kraisak, his co-accused Pracha Thanomnin also filed an appeal and it was heard in the same court as Kraisak's. Pracha once again put forward his alibi defence during the appeal hearing in an effort to absolve himself from the murder charge, but on 24 May 1996 (the same date when Kraisak's appeal was allowed), unlike the case of Kraisak, the Court of Appeal rejected Pracha's appeal, after they found that there was sufficient evidence that Pracha intentionally inflicted the fatal injury onto Lee Kok Yin and it was not accidental, and noted that with respect to his claims of an alibi, Pracha did not call for any witnesses to corroborate them, therefore they upheld Pracha's conviction and sentence.[32]
On the Friday morning of 10 January 1997, 30-year-old Pracha Thanomnin was hanged in Changi Prison. He did not file for clemency to commute his sentence to life in prison.[33][34]
As of today, Wan and Dorn, whose real identities were not yet uncovered, are never caught for the charges of robbing and killing Lee Kok Yin.
Nanyang Sin-Chew Lianhe Zaobao, commonly abbreviated as Lianhe Zaobao, is the largest Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper with a daily circulation of about 136,900 as of 2021. Published by SPH Media Trust, it was formed on 16 March 1983 as a result of a merger between Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh, two of Singapore's oldest Chinese newspapers.
Star Awards 1997 is the 4th edition of the annual Star Awards presented by the Television Corporation of Singapore to honour its artistes who work on Channel 8.
Star Awards 1995 is the 2nd edition of the annual Star Awards presented by the Television Corporation of Singapore to honour its artistes who work on Channel 8. A total of 21 awards were given out at the ceremony, with addition of 5 new categories where winners were selected by a panel of judges.
Lee Kok Cheong was the Singaporean Head of the English Proficiency Unit at the National University of Singapore. He was murdered in his house in Castle Peak Avenue on 14 December 1993; the identities of his killers remained unknown to Singapore police for more than two years. In 1998, a Malaysian named Too Yin Sheong, one of the men accused of the murder, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Another two accomplices were caught in 1998 and 2005 respectively, and one ended up in jail for robbery while the other was condemned to hang for the crime.
Shawn Tng, 唐志瑋, is a singer and composer from Singapore.
Between April 1992 and December 1992, there were two cases of taxi drivers being killed in Singapore, specifically in secluded areas of Yishun. The first was Seing Koo Wan, a 58-year-old taxi driver who was found with several stab wounds on his body. Despite a police appeal, Seing's killer(s) was never found and the case remained unsolved for eight months before another taxi driver, Teo Kim Hock, was allegedly kidnapped by two men who demanded a ransom from his family. However, in truth, 59-year-old Teo was killed before the calls for ransom arrived.
On 14 July 1993, 50-year-old sub-contractor Sim Ah Lek, who was also a moneylender, was killed by 37-year-old Phua Soy Boon, who was his creditor, after he refused Sim's request to lend him S$10,000. After killing Sim, Phua stole Sim's Rolex watch, diamond ring and S$9,000 in cash, and even stuffed the dead body inside a gunny sack before disposing of it at Jurong Swimming Complex, where it was found the next morning.
Star Awards 1996 is the 3rd edition of the annual Star Awards presented by the Television Corporation of Singapore to honour its artistes who work on Channel 8. A total of 21 awards were given out at the ceremony and saw the introduction of two new categories, namely "Top Rated Drama Serial" and "Top Rated Telemovie", while the categories "Most Popular Male Artiste" and "Most Popular Female Artiste" were discontinued.
Zhang Xinxiang, formerly known as Zhang Wenxiang, is a Singaporean actor and businessman.
On 25 March 1999, a 18-year-old female Malaysian named Koh Mew Chin was found murdered in her rented flat at Singapore's Pasir Ris, where she lived with her boyfriend and several other Malaysians working in Singapore. A day after the killing, Koh's 19-year-old boyfriend Chan Choon Wai, also a Malaysian, was arrested and charged with murder.
Ryan Choo is a Singaporean educator, businessman and former actor. He is best known for his role as Yan Dao in the comedy sitcom Right Frequency.
Ezann Lee is a Singaporean actress and television host, who is best known for her roles in the television series Destiny (2005) and Making Miracles (2007). She has also appeared in the film Be with Me (2005), directed by Eric Khoo.
Season of Love is a 1998 Singaporean romantic drama series starring James Lye, Ivy Lee, Bernard Tan, Cynthia Koh and May Phua. It began production in September 1998 and was aired on Mediacorp Channel 8 in December 1998. A relatively small budget production with production costs of only about S$4,000 per episode, Season of Love ranked among the top ten most viewed local drama series in 1998, attracting 730,000 viewers on average.
Bernard Tan Thuan Tjer is a Singaporean actor and insurance dealer. He has starred in the television series Bond of Love (1994), Silk and Romance (1995), A Romance in Shanghai (1996), The Other Parent (1997) and Point of Entry (2010−2014).
Dai Peng was a Singaporean actor, theatre and radio personnel whose acting career spanned more than 40 years.
Yen May Woen was a Singaporean hairdresser and drug trafficker. Yen was charged with drug trafficking in May 2002 after she was caught earlier that month for carrying 120 sachets, each containing 30.16g of heroin. Yen claimed that she did not know about the drugs, which were found in a bag she claimed she got from a friend. She was found guilty in March 2003 and sentenced to death upon conviction. Yen appealed to overturn her conviction and death sentence, but it was dismissed, and she was eventually hanged on 19 March 2004. For the next 19 years, Yen remained the last woman to be executed in Singapore before Saridewi Djamani was hanged on 28 July 2023 for drug trafficking.
On 22 November 1990, 20-year-old National Serviceman Lee Teck Sang, who deserted from his army and hid himself at the campus of Singapore Polytechnic for 17 days, used a knife to murder a 45-year-old lecturer during a robbery. The victim, Tan Chin Liong, died as a result of being stabbed thrice. Although Lee claimed that he only meant to rob and the stabbing was meant to incapacitate Tan, the High Court rejected Lee's defence and found Lee guilty of murdering Tan, and sentenced him to death. Lee's appeal was dismissed and he was hanged on 29 July 1994.
Truth Be Told is a 2007 Singaporean drama film directed by Teo Eng Tiong and written by Lim Jen Nee, a husband-and-wife team. It tells the story of Renee, a television presenter who returns to her home in Tiong Bahru Estate, only to be confronted by a former neighbour who threatens to reveal the past she wants buried. The film stars Yvonne Lim, Bernard Tan, Liang Tian, Steven Woon and Luis Lim. It was theatrically released on 28 September 2007.
Love Story is a 2006 Hong Kong and Singaporean romantic drama film directed by Kelvin Tong. The film follows a romance novelist and his four different muses, and stars Allen Lin, Erica Lee, Evelyn Tan, Tracy Tan and Amanda Ling. Funded by Andy Lau's production company Focus Films as part of its Focus: First Cuts projects which was set up to encourage the region's promising directors, the film won Tong the Best Director award at the 2006 Singapore International Film Festival.
On 23 May 1996, a 38-year-old Indonesian businessman named Benny Probocemdana Oen was mortally wounded by an assailant during a stabbing incident at Pacific Plaza before he died in hospital. The suspect, identified as 19-year-old Sim Eng Teck, was arrested more than a year later and charged with murder. Sim, who put up a defence of alcohol intoxication and also put forward claims that he only intend to stab the victim's arm during the knife attack, but Judicial Commissioner Amerjeet Singh found that Sim had intentionally inflicted the fatal injuries on Oen and described the killing as a "daringly cold-blooded" murder, and sentenced Sim to death in May 1998. Sim lost his appeal on 1 August 1998, and he had since been hanged.
References
↑ "车停偏僻工地 讯号灯闪不停". 新明日报 (Xin Ming Ri Bao) (in Chinese). 22 January 1995.
↑ "脑袋几乎砍断司机双眼圆睁". 联合晚报 (Lianhe Wanbao) (in Chinese). 22 January 1995.
↑ "谋杀德士司机泰籍男子正法". 联合早报 (Lianhe Zaobao) (in Chinese). 11 January 1997.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
