Blood Lust (9 page)

Of Stephen Lee, Mr Ghows said that he
‘joined in knowing very well that men were going to be buried after the
killing’. He said that Alex Yau claimed to be the most innocent of the whole
lot as he only drove the car. “But even if Alex did not think he had been
approached to take part in the killing, when he rushed out of the kitchen that
night with the others he joined the rest of them in the common object of
killing even if it was not his hand that delivered the fatal blows.” There was
no charge of conspiracy against all the accused, ‘but we contend that when the
melee started in the backyard and they all came rushing out of the kitchen,
they joined in the common object and adopted it by helping to tie and gag the
victims. There is no doubt that everybody knew there was going to be a
killing.’

Mr Ghows said that of course there were
discrepancies in Augustine’s story. “This was only natural as the witness was
trying to recollect what happened a year ago. He had been cross-examined in the
witness box for 33 hours and I took nearly seven hours and 55 minutes in
examining him. If, after 33 hours of cross-examination there were no discrepancies
and contradictions, it would have been a miracle. In my submission, Augustine
has told the truth in Court and he told the truth as soon as he was arrested.
Even if some parts of his evidence lack corroboration it should be accepted.
Accordingly all nine accused should be found guilty as charged.”

The Court adjourned on Friday, 1 December
1972. On Monday, 4 December, the two Judges returned their verdict. Seven of
the nine were sentenced to death. The two youths jointly convicted with them
escaped the capital penalty because they were under the age of 18 when the
murders were committed. Ringo Lee Chiew Chwee and Stephen Lee Hock Khoon,
living at different addresses in Bencoolen Street, were ordered to be detained
at the President’s pleasure. Sentenced to death were the Chou brothers, Andrew
and David. This was the first time two brothers were sentenced to death by a
Singapore Court. The other five sentenced to die with them were: Peter lim Swee
Guan (24 years old) of Toa Payoh, a despatch clerk; Alex Yau Hean Thye (20
years old) of Middle Road, a student in a vocational institution doing a
general welding course; Richard James (19 years old) of Toa Payoh; Stephen
Francis (21 years old) of Toa Payoh, and Konesekaram Nagalingam (19 years old)
of Bedok Road.

The following day, they all gave notice of
appeal against conviction and sentence.

The
Grounds of Judgement
were handed down by Justice Chua
and Justice Choor Singh, on 5 July 1973. This document is a report of the Court
proceedings and the observations of the Judges on the evidence. First they
dealt with the discovery of the bodies.

There was a long piece of green cord wound
twice round the neck of Leong Chin Woo and the ends of the cord went down to
the wrists. The mouth of Ngo Cheng Poh was gagged by a piece of towel tied
across the mouth, ended with a dead knot behind. There was a piece of torn
cloth across the neck not tied, and on top of it was a green cord wound round
the neck several times but not tied. Both his ankles were tied together with
black thin wire in many rounds. The body of Ang Boon Chai was found in a pond,
three pieces of green cord lying loosely on the body.

Goh Cheng Hong, wife of Ngo, reported him
missing at the Joo Chiat Police Station at about 10:30
am
on the morning of 30 December 1971. She reported that her
husband and his two employees had left her house in two cars at 11:30
pm
the previous night after telling her
that they were going to Paya Lebar, and her husband had not returned.

After finding the bodies, the police
interviewed her at 6:15
pm
. Mdm
Goh said that her husband was one of two partners in Kwee Guan and Co. of Pekin
Street, importers and exporters. He had been dealing in gold bars in a small
way for about two years before his death. He would buy gold bars from the
United Overseas Bank and export them to Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and
Saigon. He used to export the gold bars through Andrew Chou. She had been with
her husband and Leong Chin Woo to Chou’s house to deliver gold bars. Sometimes
Leong and Ang would deliver the bars.

On 29 December, at about 9:00
pm
, Leong and Ang came to her house. At
about 11:25
pm
, Andrew Chou rang
up and spoke to her husband. Shortly afterwards, Ngo left the house with Leong
and Ang, taking with him 120 gold bars in six canvas bags. Ngo put them into
his Mercedes (SY 6407) and drove off with Ang. Leong followed in his car, a
Volkswagen. She waited at home. At about 2:30
am
,
Andrew Chou telephoned and asked for her husband. She told him that he had left
with Leong at about 11:30
pm
after getting his telephone call. Mdm Goh understood from Chou that her husband
had not been at his house. She waited until 5:00
am
, and when her husband did not return, dressed and drove to
Chou’s house to look for him. She arrived just after 6:00
am
. Andrew Chou came out as she was
about to step into the house. She asked about her husband and he said he did
not know where Ngo was. She noticed his bandaged right hand. He said he had
injured it working at the airport. She left to look for her husband, but with
no success. At 10:15
am
, she
reported him missing.

At about 10:30
pm
that evening, a police party led by Inspector Oh Chye Bee,
the investigating officer, went to the Chous’ house. Andrew said he did not
know where Ngo was and when told that Ngo and the two others had been found
dead, he exclaimed ‘Jesus’. DSP Teoh Beng San noticed that Andrew’s right hand
was swollen, and that there were scratches on the bare body of David. When
questioned, Andrew said that he and his brother had been sparring with each
other. He said he was a blue belt taekwondo and that David was a brown belt in
karate. The police arrested them at 1:00
am
on 31 December. Later in the morning, the Mercedes and the Volks-wagen were
found abandoned.

At 4:00
am
in the morning of 2 January 1972, Andrew led the police to the home of
Augustine Ang. He led them to Peter Lim who took them to 4a Worcester Road, the
flat of Peter Lim’s aunt, Catherine Tay. Peter pointed to a tin on a ledge. In
it the police found 15 gold bars. In the ceiling they found 90 gold bars. They
went back to the flat again at 9:30
am
and Mrs Tay handed them a pillow in which $29,000 in cash were found. Two and a
half hours later, David took the police to his office (Bayer Singapore Ltd.),
where he was employed as assistant manager (technical) and opened a locked
drawer. Inside, the police recovered five gold bars.

The following day, Stephen Lee took the
police to his house and gave them $1,750 in cash. The same day, Peter Lim gave
them $1,800.

The main witness for the prosecution was
Augustine Ang. His evidence was shortly to this effect. Before 1965, he was
working with Central Commodity Services Ltd. and came to know Andrew Chou who
was working there. In 1965 or 1966, he went to work for Hagemeyer Trading Co.
and there he met David who was working in the same office. He often visited 19
Chepstow Close. Andrew went to work with Air Vietnam as an air cargo officer.
He once told him that he was sending gold bars to the airport. In October 1971,
Andrew told him he had lost about $70,000. After this incident, Andrew asked
him to escort him to the airport whenever he took gold bars because he feared
he might be robbed. David and Peter Lim also escorted Andrew. Augustine and
Peter were paid $50 each time by Andrew.

Early in November 1971, Andrew, David, Peter
and he planned to attack and kill the person or persons bringing gold bars to
the Chous’ house (with the assistance of some men to be recruited by Peter),
and take the gold.

In the Chous’ house (while the Chou brothers
were not in) Ang told the five recruited men briefly what they were to do. “I
told them about two or three persons would come to Andrew’s house and they must
be brought down. By ‘brought down’ I mean ‘kill them’. I told them it must be done
clean and quiet, and the bodies must be buried and they would be paid $20,000
for the job. I also told them that I would arrange for the Chou brothers to
meet them that night. Then they left.”

They all came back to the Chous’ house later
that evening and in three cars went to Changi Point. At a coffee stall, David
did most of the talking. He explained that his brother had some business
trouble; that two or three men were coming to his house and that these men had
to be brought down; that it must be done clean and quiet and the bodies must be
buried.

A few days later, in the Chous’ house with
Peter, the brothers asked him to get a new group of ‘boys’ and to get a buyer
for the gold bars. Peter said he would get the boys and also ask his aunt to
get a buyer for the gold bars. He would speak to her about keeping the gold
bars in her house.

***

One night, he and Peter went to 4a Worcester
Road where he told Mrs Tay she would be paid a commission if she could find a
buyer for the gold. Later, Tay told him she had found a buyer; the buyer wanted
to see a sample. Andrew gave Augustine a piece of gold bar, and with Peter, he
took it to her. Tay then took them to a shop in North Bridge Road to see the
buyer, Tan Kay Hwa. He examined it and said that the gold was worth between
$3,000 to $4,000 per kilogram.

One day, Peter rang him up at his office to
tell him that he had found a new group of boys, one Chinese and three Indians.
Augustine met them and told them that they were to kill two or three men and
get rid of their bodies, for which they would be paid $20,000. One of the
Indian boys said he knew of a place somewhere in Changi where the bodies could
be thrown into a deep well.

One or two days later, Augustine went with
Andrew and Peter and four of the gang got into a van belonging to Stephen Lee’s
father, and Alex Yau drove them to inspect a place in Changi said to be
suitable for disposing of dead bodies. This place was not far from the
Reformative Training Centre. After passing the centre, one of the tyres on the
van punctured. They phoned David Chou and he drove them back to Serangoon
Garden Circus where a taxi driver was persuaded to take them back to the
stranded van to fit on another tyre.

Nothing happened until 29 December when at
about 5:00
pm
that afternoon
Andrew phoned Augustine at his home and told him to get the boys ready as 120
gold bars were due to be delivered that night. So Augustine went to Stephen
Lee’s place to warn him to round up the boys. Augustine went to the Chous’
house and borrowed Peter Lim’s car and drove to Beng Swee Place where he met
Stephen Lee and hired a Ford Cortina. This was the car to collect the boys and,
after the murder, to take away the bodies. Augustine returned in Peter’s car to
prepare for the arrival of the three victims. He helped the Chou brothers and
Peter to remove a punching bag which was hanging by a long, green nylon rope
from a tree in the garden. The Chou brothers cut the nylon rope into two or
three pieces. They went to the covered backyard and moved the dining table and
chairs to one side, leaving a space in the middle of the backyard. Then
Augustine and Peter went back to Beng Swee Place in Peter’s car. The gang used
the hired car and Peter’s car to drive back to the Chous’ house. They parked
the cars at the rear of the house, and all of them went into the backyard and
there they were told to stand near the dining table. Andrew lifted a food cover
on the table and said: “There are ropes, a roll of plaster and a towel.” Then
they all went into the hall.

Augustine’s own words: “After that, Andrew
said that we must all remain in the kitchen. Andrew told me to be nearer to the
kitchen door, and that when he called ‘Ang’, I was to come out from the kitchen
to the backyard and take out a bag from a small cupboard, and count the gold.
After that all of us went into the kitchen except for Andrew and David. After a
short while I heard Andrew calling me, ‘Ang’. So I went out of the kitchen. I
heard the sound of a motorcar round about midnight. All of us then were in the
kitchen, except David and Andrew. Then after a short while I heard Andrew
calling ‘Ang’, so I went into the backyard. Andrew asked me to take out the bag
from the cupboard. Andrew asked me to count the gold bars. So I squatted near
the cupboard, the centre cupboard, I saw Ngo standing on my right and Leong on
my left. Andrew was standing behind Ngo. David was standing behind Leong. I was
facing them, my back was to the cupboard … Before I could count the gold I saw
Andrew and David pounce on Ngo and Leong. Andrew put both his hands around
Ngo’s neck like this (the left arm round the neck and the right hand on the
wrist of the left hand). David did the same thing to Leong. After this I
quickly put the bag into the cupboard and I pushed the kitchen door open and shouted
to the boys to come out … I saw Andrew still with his hands round Ngo’s neck,
and Ngo was kicking and moving his legs, in other words, struggling. I got hold
of Ngo’s legs and pressed them down. Ngo’s face was upwards … he was lying on
the ground. As I was pressing on Ngo’s legs I saw David pulling the rope that
was around Leong’s neck. Leong was on the floor. After a short while David came
over and took over from Andrew. As Andrew released his hands from Ngo’s neck
David put his hands round Ngo’s neck … I walked out to the small path which was
near the side of the house running from front to back, past the porch. I saw a
man lying on the path, lying sideways, his face facing the back road. His legs
were near the fence. I then saw Andrew using his feet stamping on the body of
the man. I also saw Andrew applying karate chops on the man’s neck and to the
right temple. I saw a block of wood which was round and I took the wood and hit
the man’s face several times. I heard the man calling for help. In Hokkien, he
said ‘
Tolong
m’thang phat wa.
’ He was saying: ‘Please, please
don’t hit me. Let me go!’ He also said ‘
Phang wa kie.
’ I heard the sound of cars at the front of the house. David shouted
in Chinese to his brother: ‘Guan, Guan, the neighbours are back.’ I can’t
remember who took the third man at the path into the backyard. I went into the
backyard and saw three bodies covered with cloths. Andrew called me and some of
the other boys to stand facing him. He took an empty bottle (I don’t know from
where), and held it. At the same time I heard David wishing his neighbours. I
didn’t hear exactly what he said. The neighbours were walking by the side of
their house, just next to Andrew’s house, by the side of the fence. Andrew was
telling us something about his captain. He was holding the bottle and said:
‘Whether my captain likes it or not.’ It was an empty aerated water bottle ...
I was facing Andrew: four or five other persons were facing him. Andrew was
facing the neighbour’s house. Andrew broke the bottle and left it in the small
drain ... I saw a Volkswagen parked near the back gate. I went to the car ...
David took a cloth and covered up the three bodies in the car. They were piled
up. The front seat next to the driver was pushed forward. One of the bodies was
very close to the door and David asked me to help him to push the door: he
couldn’t close it. As I pushed the door, David pushed the body away from the
door. Then Alex got into the Volkswagen. Peter and the rest of the boys got
into the Cortina. The two cars left. Andrew, David and I stayed in Andrew’s
house. We took pails of water and washed the floor of the backyard as there was
blood on the floor.”