Murderers in Kallang slashings sentenced

SINGAPORE — Two Sarawakians who went on a violent robbery spree that left one man dead and three others badly injured were sentenced today (April 20), with the one deemed to have inflicted the fatal blows condemned to the gallows. His accomplice, who held the victim down during the fatal slashing and did not use the weapon, was sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

The duo are part of a gang of Sarawakians that went on the high-profile spree in Kallang from the late hours of May 29, 2010 to the early hours of May 30. They severely injured two Indian nationals and a Singaporean before they set upon an Indian construction worker who died on the spot after sustaining a fractured skull, among other injuries.

In a seven-page written judgment, High Court judge Choo Han Teck said it was not only that Micheal Garing, 26, had wielded the parang and slashed the worker 20 times to his death. He was also the only one who used the parang on the three other victims in the seven-hour orgy of terror.

While the earlier attacks did not form the subject of the murder charge that Garing was facing, Justice Choo made it clear they were material in his finding that Garing deserved to face the hangman’s noose, unlike his fellow accused Tony Imba.

“The facts concerning the three other victims cannot be ignored. The assault on each of them was as violent as the one that killed the last victim,” said the judge. “The weapon was wielded by only one man — Micheal Garing.”

By extension, the fact that Imba, 36, did not use the weapon is important, even though he was responsible for knocking Mr Shanmuganathan Dillidurai off his bicycle and holding the 41-year-old down during the slashing, Justice Choo added.

“But the fatal wounds were not inflicted by Tony Imba and there is no evidence to show that he ever wielded the weapon to cause deadly injuries. Is this a sufficient distinction?” the judge wrote. “The sentencing court must be satisfied, after considering the facts and the circumstances, that the convicted offender deserves to be punished with death, and I am not satisfied that the facts sufficiently warrant it so far as Tony Imba is concerned.”

If none of the victims were killed, Imba’s sentence would “probably be lower” than that of Garing’s, Justice Choo pointed out, in ruling that Imba’s culpability is “significantly less”.

Hairee Anak Landak, one of the four involved in the case, was sentenced to 33 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane in 2013 after he pleaded guilty to armed robbery with grievous hurt. An alleged accomplice, Donny Meluda, is still at large.

The prosecution had argued during trial in 2013 that it is “not unprecedented for co-accused persons convicted of a common intention to receive similar sentences”. However, Justice Choo said changes to the mandatory death penalty regime in 2012 have given courts the discretion to impose life imprisonment instead to convicted murderers.

Although the courts have used various phrases to outline when the death penalty is warranted, these are unnecessary when the facts of a case, such as the accused’s conduct, speak for itself, he added. “The court has to find the facts, and then decide whether those facts ... merit the punishment of death,” said Justice Choo. In this instance, while all four accomplices “shared the same common intention to rob their victims by violent means”, only one of them wielded the weapon, he added. 

Both Garing’s and Imba’s family members and friends showed up in court today. Imba’s lawyer Amarick Singh Gill said his client was very relieved. Mr Ramesh Tiwary, who represented Garing, said his client will be appealing against his sentence. 

Garing’s father Mr Garing Kanyan, 64, said it has been a “very difficult period” for his family. “When we heard the death sentence, our hearts all sank,” he said in Malay.