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Last Kallang murder suspect charged after six years on the run

SINGAPORE — A Sarawak native, the last of four suspects wanted for a brutal robbery spree that left one man dead and three others injured in 2010, was finally caught after evading arrest for six years and charged in court on Friday (Jan 20).

Donny Meluda, the last suspect in the 2010 Kallang slashing that left one dead and three injured, is seen under police escort.

Donny Meluda, the last suspect in the 2010 Kallang slashing that left one dead and three injured, is seen under police escort.

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SINGAPORE — A Sarawak native, the last of four suspects wanted for a brutal robbery spree that left one man dead and three others injured in 2010, was finally caught after evading arrest for six years and charged in court on Friday (Jan 20).

Donny Meluda, 26, who now goes by the name of Abdul Rahman Abdullah, was nabbed by the Royal Malaysia Police across the border and handed over to Singapore on Wednesday. 

He had been at large while the others in the group were prosecuted here. 

He was charged for the offence of murder with common intention and, if found guilty, will face the death penalty. No plea was taken from Meluda, who was unrepresented in court. He will continue to be remanded for further investigations, with the court granting the police permission to take him out for investigations. He returns to court on Jan 27.

Together with three accomplices from his hometown, Meluda allegedly murdered Indian construction worker Shanmuganathan Dillidurai, 41, between 12.12am and 7.34am on May 30, 2010. 

The victim died on the spot after sustaining a fractured skull, among other injuries, on a field near Kallang Road. 

The gang, who were all from Sarawak and working here, carried out four violent robberies from the late night of May 29, 2010 to the early hours of the next day.

Their first two victims were then-construction worker Sandeep Singh, 24, and then-full-time national serviceman Ang Jun Heng, 19. They were both attacked at different timings from behind, kicked and punched, and slashed with a parang. 

Ang, a Singaporean, testified during a trial in 2013 that his “scalp was flapping” after he was hit on the head, and his fingers were severed in the attack.

Mr Singh, an Indian national, was also hit hard on the head. A neurosurgeon testified that there was also an open skull fracture and part of his brain was “exposed to the environment”, which could have resulted in death had he not been given early medical treatment. He also had multiple slashes, mostly on the left side of the body, and injuries on his left hand and back. 

A third victim, Indian national Egan Karuppaiah, then 43, was punched on his left eye. Both his arms were almost hacked to the bone.

The gang then set upon Shanmuganathan and killed him. 

Meluda’s accomplices, arrested in 2010, have been convicted. 

In 2013, Hairee Landak, then 22, was sentenced to 33 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to armed robbery and grievous hurt. In 2015, Micheal Garing, then 26, was given the death penalty and Tony Imba, then 36, was sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane in 2015. 

In a seven-page written judgment, High Court judge Choo Han Teck said it was not only that Micheal had wielded the parang and slashed the construction worker 20 times till he died, but he was the only one who used the parang on the three other victims in the seven-hour terror spree. 

Micheal has appealed against his death sentence, while the prosecution has appealed for Tony to be hanged.

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