Singaporean Murderer Pardoned From Thai Prison Is Charged With Another Murder

[sriracha john]

Teo Chwee Kow *errrr.... uhmmm.... nice, friendly-looking chap, eh? *

Pardoned killer back in jail for another murder

SINGAPORE: Having spent 18 years in jail for killing a man in Thailand and only recently released after a royal pardon by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Singaporean Teo Chwee Kow will now spend another eight years behind bars here.

He pleaded guilty to slaying another man over a staring incident in the Republic 20 years ago.

On Monday, Justice Choo Han Teck sentenced Teo, 49, to nine years in jail. The sentence was backdated to December last year when he was repatriated from Thailand because Teo has been in remand since.

According to court documents, at about 2.30am on March 1987, Teo cycled past Mr Edy Tan - an Indonesian trader - and his three friends, who were chatting in an Amoy Street back alley after a gambling session. Parking his bicycle a short distance away, Teo walked back to confront Mr Tan and demanded to know why the latter had stared at him.

An argument broke out and a scuffle ensued. During the fight, Teo fell into a drain. He then got up and grabbed a plastic bag containing a knife from a basket on his bicycle and swung it several times at Mr Tan.

Teo fled and Mr Tan - who was slashed on the arms, chest and abdomen - died an hour later in hospital.

On the same day, with the help of a Malaysian friend, Teo escaped to Malaysia and subsequently made his way to Thailand, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment a year later, in 1988, for killing another man there.

In 1997, the Singapore police learnt of Teo's whereabouts from their Thai counterparts.

In his mitigation plea on Monday, lawyer Subhas Anandan pointed out that Teo, who was diagnosed as an alcoholic, was inebriated at the time of the 1987 offence. Also, it was Mr Tan who had struck the first blow, said the defence attorney.

While Mr Anandan stressed that his client was remorseful, Deputy Public Prosecutor Francis Ng said that Teo could have still been at large had the Thai authorities not arrested him.

Teo could have been jailed for up to 10 years or faced life imprisonment for manslaughter.

Outside the courtroom, Teo's sister told reporters that her brother had asked her "not to worry" and that "his jail term would pass very fast".

While she was "very sad" at the sentence, Ms Teo was somewhat glad that she was reunited with her brother, whom the family had not heard from since he fled Singapore.

The family is now divided over the payment of Teo's lawyer fees, totalling $16,500.

Said Madam Teo: "Our parents are dead. The other siblings are now refusing to share the bill. I am at my wits' end."

- Channel News Asia

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From Thai prison to Singapore prison

Singapore - A man extradited from Thailand was jailed for the slashing death of an Indonesian barter trader 20 years ago, news reports said Tuesday.

Teo Chwee Kow, 49, admitted killing Edy Tan, 43, by repeatedly slashing him with a knife during a back-lane scuffle in 1987.

Justice Choo Han Teck sentenced Teo on Monday to nine years in jail after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, The Straits Times said.

After the fatal stabbing, Teo returned to his Singapore home, grabbed his passport and money and fled to Malaysia.

The trail remained cold until September 1997, when police learned that Teo was in jail in Thailand for a variety of offences. He was detained by authorities until he was extradited to Singapore in December.

- DPA

Edited September 25, 2007 by sriracha john

[lazeeboy]

good country relations ,only ten years to be told he was in thailand ........

[sriracha john]

The victim:

Edy Tan, Indonesian businessman stabbed to death by Teo Chwee Kow in 1987.

The murderer's sister:

Madam Teo

I can't leave him in the lurch

He left his younger sister worrying whether he was dead or alive for nearly 20 years.

And when she found out he was still alive last year, her relief was short-lived.

Teo Chwee Kow, now 49, was returning to Singapore after 18 years in a Thai prison to face a murder charge, which carries the death penalty.

Despite having lost touch for so long and knowing her brother was possibly a double killer, the sister, who wanted to be known only as Madam Teo, 48, did not hesitate.

She borrowed money from friends so she could engage Singapore's top criminal lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan, to defend her brother.

Her love and devotion paid off yesterday when Teo was jailed for nine years after his murder charge was reduced to manslaughter, to which he pleaded guilty.

Until last year, the last time Madam Teo saw her older brother was on 27 Mar 1987, when they were drinking at the family home in Chinatown.

Around midnight, he left on his bicycle to buy more liquor. He never went home.

The next thing Madam Teo knew, the police were at their door, looking for Teo, whom they said had stabbed a man over a staring incident. The man died about an hour later.

She recalled: "I was sleeping when the police came knocking on our door in the wee hours. It was then that we realised my brother was in trouble." The police told the family to inform them if Teo came home, but he never did. She said: "I was shocked at what the police told me but I had to accept the truth after seeing the victim's corpse." Madam Teo said her family lived in Amoy Street at that time, and she went to the crime scene after the police visit.

For the next 20 years, the family never heard once from Teo, and Madam Teo often wondered if he were dead or alive.

Finally, last December, Madam Teo was informed by the police that her brother had been deported from Thailand. It turned out that after the Chinatown killing, Teo had returned to his Bukit Merah flat, taken his passport and $1,000 and fled to Malaysia.

From there, he made his way to Thailand where he had been in jail since 1988 for killing another man.

No details were available on that case, but The New Paper understands that Teo was supposed to have been jailed until 2029.

He received a royal pardon in June last year, but was detained until last December when he was repatriated to Singapore. Teo was then charged with murder over the 1987 killing of Mr Edy Tan, 43, an Indonesian businessman.

Yesterday, Madam Teo was relieved that her brother did not have to face the gallows, despite her having to borrow money for his defence and having to pay the legal bills in instalments. It is understood Teo's lawyers, Mr Subhas Anandan and Mr Sunil Sudheesan of KhattarWong, gave a discount.

But she said she still has to foot most of the $16,000 bill because her other siblings could not afford to chip in. It is believed that three of Teo's friends contributed $1,000 each. The mother of three said: "I had to borrow from friends to pay the lawyer."

"I can't leave my brother in the lurch, especially when he faced the death penalty."

"At least, my brother won't have to die." She added: "I was very worried when he was initially charged with murder."

"We waited almost 20 years for him to come back, only to have him face the death penalty."

Asked if her husband had problems with her going into debt to try to save her brother, she said: "He didn't say anything about this because he considers this to be my family's problem."

As for her sacrifice, Madam Teo said: "I've always been close to my siblings. I told my children that they too should look out for their siblings." Madam Teo said their mother took Teo's disappearance badly. "My brother was my mum's favourite child. She doted on him because he cared the most about the family," she told The New Paper in Mandarin.

"When he was working, my brother gave our mum money regularly. He was also the one who would take her to the doctor if she was unwell."

By the time Teo - who has previous convictions for theft and illegal gambling, - went on the run, their father had died.

Madam Teo added that her brother, a bachelor, had only primary school education and did odd jobs to support the family.

She said: "Not a day passed when my mother didn't talk about him." "Each time she talked about my brother, she cried because she didn't know if he was dead or alive."

"She was so worried that she went to temples to pray for his well-being."

Their mother died in 1998 without seeing Teo for the last time.

Since Teo's return to Singapore, Madam Teo has been visiting him in Queenstown Remand Prison daily. She said: "Initially, I cried during every visit. I've not seen him for almost 20 years and my heart ached each time I saw him."

"Now, I don't cry anymore because I've accepted what happened. But I'll still visit him every day because I'd feel insecure if I don't see him."

She said she did not ask Teo about what he did in Thailand.

Madam Teo said her brother also cried when told of his mother's death. They plan to visit their parents' niche at Choa Chu Kang Columbarium after his release.

Mr Anandan pleaded for leniency, arguing that the victim, Mr Tan, was 30kg heavier and had landed the first blow. He said that Teo had armed himself with a knife only after being attacked.

But DPP Francis Ng argued that Teo was the one who had started the fight while Mr Tan had been minding his own business. He also pointed to Teo's lack of remorse. He had got rid of knife and bicycle and fled Singapore and "made no effort to atone for his crimes."

Madam Teo said of the sentence: "I was hoping he'd be jailed only seven years. Then again, as family members, you always hope he'll get a light sentence."

"I spoke to my brother after the sentencing and he's fine about it since the prosecution didn't press for caning as well." Teo was in high spirits yesterday,smiling as he chatted with Madam Teo after the sentence was passed.

Teo is just six months shy of turning 50, which would exempt him from caning. Caning is not mandatory for culpable homicide.

- The New Paper (Singapore)

[Prakanong]

He is lucky the lawyer got it reduced to manslaughter otherwise he would have been hanged for murder in Singapore!

They usually get the cane as well for manslaughter but he might be too old by now

[sriracha john]

UPDATE....with another similar case

After 14 years in Thai prison, Singapore jails him

He had served 14 years in a Thai prison for murder. And yesterday, the 46-year-old Singaporean was jailed for two years here for a burglary he participated in with five others 21 years ago.

Lee Seow Poh pleaded guilty to breaking in and stealing assets worth $15,600 at a provision shop in Strathmore Avenue on Nov 22, 1986. Lee and his accomplices stole cigarettes, liquor, lottery tickets, a safe and cash.

In addition to the two-year sentence, the unemployed man was also given another six months' imprisonment and six strokes of the cane for a separate offence of carrying a keris (a Malay dagger) and a knife while in a taxi along Lower Delta Road on April 23, 1986.

He had carried the two knives with the intention of helping one of his friends who was expecting a confrontation with others at Bugis, according to investigations.

Lee later fled to Thailand where he served time for murder, and returned to Singapore this year.

Last September, another Singaporean Teo Chwee Kow, 49, who had also served time in a Thai prison for murder, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment in Singapore, after pleading guilty for a murder he committed here in 1987.

- Today Online

[sriracha john]

Pardoned killer back in jail for another murder

SINGAPORE: Having spent 18 years in jail for killing a man in Thailand and only recently released after a royal pardon by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Singaporean Teo Chwee Kow will now spend another eight years behind bars here.

He pleaded guilty to slaying another man over a staring incident in the Republic 20 years ago.

UPDATE....with another similar case

After 14 years in Thai prison, Singapore jails him

He had served 14 years in a Thai prison for murder. And yesterday, the 46-year-old Singaporean was jailed for two years here for a burglary he participated in with five others 21 years ago.

Lee Seow Poh pleaded guilty to breaking in and stealing assets worth $15,600 at a provision shop in Strathmore Avenue on Nov 22, 1986. Lee and his accomplices stole cigarettes, liquor, lottery tickets, a safe and cash.

Lee later fled to Thailand where he served time for murder, and returned to Singapore this year.

UPDATE....incredibly a THIRD similar case

2 robbers jailed, caned

Two men who tried to rob a businessman nearly 16 years ago and then fled to Thailand where they committed murder were jailed and ordered to be caned.

Sng Wee Seng, 40, and Lee Bok Ho, 40, pleaded guilty last week to trying to rob Mr Yew Chay Huat, then 31, of his jewellery and cash totalling about $33,000 in a car along Shenton Way on Dec 21, 1992. Sng had pretended to sell sharks fin to Mr Yew, then a sharks' fin dealer, and roped in his childhood friend to rob him. Mr Yew picked them up at Clifford Pier in his car that evening. While driving, Sng took out a revolver-like object and pointed at the victim.

The victim later brushed aside the object, opened the car door, and rolled over on the road.

Sng and Lee fled to Thailand where they killed a Japanese national on Jan 1, 1993. They were imprisoned for life.

But they were released after serving about 15 years and deported.

Sng was given six years' jail and six strokes on Thursday while Lee was sentenced to 5 1/2 years' jail and six strokes on Aug 18. Both have robbery convictions and could have been jailed for up to seven years plus caning.

- The Straits Times (Singapore) / Aug. 21, 2008

[Stanos]

So he has killed 2 men and he will still be set free to either enjoy the rest of his life or offend again in some manner, It doesnt seem right to me