Brothel operator who murdered pimp spared death penalty; gets life term
SINGAPORE — A brothel operator who was convicted of murdering a pimp with a metal dumbbell rod and received the mandatory death penalty two years ago was successful in his appeal to the Apex Court on Tuesday (30 July).
The Court of Appeal found that Chan Lie Sian, 55, did not have a specific intention to kill William Tiah Hung Wai, who was 35 and worked for him, in January 2014.
Instead, the court found that Chan had intended to cause bodily injury that was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
Delivering the judgment of the court, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said, “Whether the accused person intended to cause death is something to be inferred from the totality of the surrounding circumstances. In our judgment, the totality of the circumstances, including the appellant’s conduct after the attack, negates such an inference being drawn.”
The court, which also comprised Justices of Appeal Andrew Phang and Judith Prakash, sentenced Chan to life imprisonment as his actions did not show a blatant disregard for human life.
Said CJ Menon, “The somewhat indiscriminate manner in which the attack was effected, with many blows to the body as well, further seems to us to demonstrate that the appellant believed on the whole that the blows he inflicted were not fatal, and that he was essentially intent on wanting to teach the victim a ‘lesson’ (albeit in a wholly perverse and misguided manner).”
Chan was spared from caning due to his age. Only male offenders below 50 can be caned.
Suspected victim stole money
In the early hours of 14 January 2014, Chan returned to his lodging house in Lorong 18 Geylang after gambling at a casino.
When he woke up at about 11am, he found about $6,000 missing from his pockets and suspected Tiah of stealing the cash. Tiah had been the last to leave the lodging house the night before.
Tiah denied taking the money and a fight broke out. Chan took a 40cm-long metal dumbbell rod weighing 1.46kg and hit Tiah several times on his head and body. Tiah was hit at least four times on the head. About 15 minutes after the fight started, Tiah was left bleeding on a bed in a bedroom.
Chan then called another of his staff, Chua Thiam Hock. When Chua arrived at the lodging house, he was similarly accused of taking Chan’s cash and denied it.
Chan then attacked Chua with the rod, fracturing his hands. In Chua’s presence, Chan also hit Tiah’s body several more times. Each time he was hit, he would groan faintly. Chan then confined both Tiah and Chua in the bedroom.
Later that afternoon, Chan told Chua to take a pail of water to clean blood off Tiah’s body. But Chua was unable to do so as his hands were fractured.
Chan then took a pail of water and splashed it on Tiah, shouting vulgarities and accusing him of pretending to be dead. Chan also said he would hit Tiah again when he regained consciousness.
When another member of his staff told Chan to call an ambulance, he refused and threatened to beat him. Chan also told another member of the staff to get rid of the rod.
Later that evening, when Chan found out that an ambulance had been called, he told his staff to carry Tiah to the front porch of the lodging house.
Chan told police he had found Tiah by the roadside and called for the ambulance.
At the hospital, Tiah was found to be in a coma with bleeding from his head and with skull fractures.
Chan surrendered himself to the police two days later.
He was charged with causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon the following day.
After Tiah died, Chan had his charge amended to murder with intention.
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