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Kovan double murder: Appeal court reserves judgement

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Iskandar Rahmat appeared before a panel of three judges at the High Court. (Yahoo file photo)

The former police officer involved in the Kovan double murder appealed against his death sentence on Wednesday (26 October) at the Court of Appeal.

Iskandar Rahmat, 37, a former senior staff sergeant with the Singapore Police Force, was found guilty of murdering workshop owner Tan Boon Sin, 67, and his son Tan Chee Heong, 42, in June 2013.

The appeal panel of three judges decided to reserve their judgement after hearing from Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lee Lit Cheng and Iskandar’s lawyer Wendell Wong.

The elder Tan was found dead in the garden of his home at 14J Hillside Drive while the body of his son was found beneath a car more than a kilometre away, near the Kovan MRT station.

On the pretext of being an intelligence officer, Iskandar told the elder Tan that his safe deposit box at a Certis Cisco facility at Jalan Afifi had been compromised. He then convinced Tan to install a dummy CCTV camera in his deposit box.

The former investigation officer with Bedok Police Division then went back with the elder Tan to the latter’s home where he knifed and inflicted multiple stab wounds on his victim.

Tan’s son appeared at the house unexpectedly later, and was also attacked and murdered by Iskandar.

Appearing before Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang and Chao Hick Tin, Wong said that his client had no intention of killing the Tans, adding that it was the elder Tan who attacked his client first.

“He never wanted the loss of two lives and he bears no ill will or grudges against the Tans,” said Wong, who pointed out that his client also suffered from stab wounds on his right hand.

DPP Lee said, however, that it was a clear case of double murder and pointed to the multiple stab wounds on both victims.

“The injuries on Iskandar are not significant (compared) to the ones suffered by the Tans. We do not know if the knife was in his hands and we cannot speculate how he hurt his hand.

“It is apparent that he had planned and intended to kill the elder Tan. He had to silence the son too as he do not want to be testified (by the son),” she said.