Jan 25th, 2007
I’m so sorry, Tochi. I’m so sorry, Tochi’s mum and dad.
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It has been on my mind for a few days already, but I can take it no more. I just don’t fucking understand why our courts have to hang Iwuchkwu Amara Tochi.
Yes, he is 21 years old, making him an adult by Singaporean law. As an adult, he should know better than to dabble in drugs. However, a high court judge noted that there was no evidence suggesting that Tochi knew that the capsule that he was asked to bring to Singapore contained heroin. Is this not a FUCKING VALID MITIGATING factor?
Why are we killing a person who quite clearly has been made used of? Was there evidence to suggest that Tochi was benefiting from bringing the drug into Singapore? Bloody hell, do we have to kill a person just because some damn law said so without considering the factors of the case? Does Tochi deserve to receive the same kind of punishment as cold-blooded murderers?
I have never opposed the death penalty in Singapore because I believe that it is a necessary evil at times. Unfortunately, I never imagined that it would be applied so mechanically. In fact, I think it has been so grossly abused. I have lost faith in the Singapore justice system. The taking of one’s life as punishment now appears to be nothing more than routine business.
Tochi, I am so sorry. Tochi’s mum and dad, I am so very sorry too. Tochi does not deserve to die. My country chose to kill him even though there were doubts on his case. I’m sorry that there is nothing I can do. I am just a small fry in this country whose voice will probably not be heard. Nonetheless, I still want to say sorry. It’s the least I can do.
From today on, I will never support the death penalty again, no matter how good the reasons are for killing a person as punishment. My eyes have been opened, but it came at the expense of Tochi’s blood.
Tochi will be hanged tomorrow morning. Fuck this. Is there justice at all in this world? I’m sorry if I don’t sound like my normal self. I’m just so upset.
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History judges a society on how it treats the least of us. That includes prisoners. Shouldn’t punishment fit the crime? And certainly when the punishment is this extreme, due care should be taken to assure the accused is guilty. Laws like this and their blind application will not change until a sufficient number — a critical mass — of people demand it. Leaders do listen when enough people speak out. What will it take to get the people of Singapore to speak out and demand that her leaders act judiciously and with a conscience? This is a very sad time for Singapore.
Sorry you’re feeling this way, bro. Welcome to the real world. Do you feel strongly enough to do something about it? The only recourse is to get the law changed. It may not happen in the near future, but when the chance does arise, I hope you will not forget what you felt today and do your bit. People’s values change as they grow older, become more cynical, and acquire vested interests. What about issues like abortion which involve the taking of life which is even more innocent? What is your position on that, where the foetus has done no wrong and has no choice at all? Who protects it? Are you aware of the numbers of abortions in Singapore?
Once i too was a strong supporter of the death penalty but now i have done an about turn.
On the contrary to the presumption of innocence until found guilty, it seems that in Singapore criminal cases , esp with regards to the trafficking of drugs, the burden of proof lies not on the State but on the defendant. HAving read about the many miscarriages of justice in Europe and USA, resulting in the execution of innocent people who were later exonerated, i believe that this is an issue which the legal system has to address. However the most logical way to ensure that miscarriage of justice does not lead to irreversible consequences, the death penalty must be put on hold and eventually (hopefully) abolished.
Hi Ray,
What is the ‘real world’? I don’t think the world that I’ve lived in up till now is any less real than what you define as the ‘real world’.
However, I take your point that I should do something about it, even if it’s a small step. I’ll ponder on the issue and see what little contribution can I make about the issue.
Dear Aaron,
I thought you might be interested in this.
Here’s a link to a group of people here in Singapore who call themselves the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign. They recently put out a press release on Tochi’s impending execution among other things: http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/sadp/
You can get more information at Asia Death Penalty blog: http://asiadeathpenalty.blogspot.com/
Regards.
hi aaron, thanks for giving me your blog.
Singapore, with a population of just over four million, is believed to have the highest per capita execution rate in the world. More than 420 people have been
executed since 1991, the majority for drug trafficking. -amnesty international
is there really reasonable doubt in this case that the boy didn’t know he was committing a crime? i’m unconvinced that that was really the evil in this case. i’m opposed to the death penalty anyway. but what’s most egregious in my mind is the double standard applied to citizens from countries with which singapore does not have a strong business tie.
and without a free press, who can know if justice is being done anyway?
Pseudonymity,
Thanks for the link. I really appreciate it.
Thanks for dropping by too.
Dear adrianne,
Thanks for popping by. As for your take on the reasonable doubt part, for your convenience, I will take a paragraph from the Asia Death Penalty blog on the trial judge’s actual words in his judgement.
The SADPC said trial judge Mr Kan Ting Chiu made the following finding: “There was no direct evidence that he knew the capsules contained diamorphine. There was nothing to suggest that Smith had told him they contained diamorphine, or that he had found that out of his own.” (Paragraph 42 of the judgment [2005] SGHC 233).
I still do not understand how could the sentence be passed if the judge had reservations about whether Tochi knew what was in his possession. Does it mean that even if a person was framed, he has to die for it? Is the law meant to be so bluntly applied? Should we punish for the sake of punishing without even giving due consideration to mitigating factors?
In anycase, thanks for pointing out that without a free press, who can know if justice is being done? Unfortunately, a free press in Singapore is a distant dream. Singapore has been consistently rated one of the least free countries in terms of press freedom, and it’s unlikely to change.
Sigh, I wonder what Tochi is thinking now. In another 8 hours from now, his life will be extinguished in a place so far from home.
the thing about execution as a necessary evil - indeed it is - but there is a huge miscarraige of justice being carried out here.
Why must this happen? i’m very sorry that this has to happen and there is nothing to be proud about. Why, even after the judge admitted that he saw no direct proof that Tochi was knowingly carrying drugs, still sentenced him to hang?
Why?
The fact that our judiciary has ignored its conscience, even with EVIDENCE STARING IT IN THE FACE, goes to show that tradition has become too important. Way too important.
Guilty before proven innocent - is this how justice is supposed to work?
i’m very, very sorry too.
You’re welcome aaron. I’ve had my eyes & ears on this issue for a number of years as i have on a number of other issues concerning Singapore.
Here is something from 2003. Its an exchange between the human rights lawyer M Ravi and the then Chief Justice Yong Pung How:
“When Mr Ravi asked the CJ (Chief Justice Yong Pung How) if the public prosecutor was “still maintaining that an innocent man be hanged because of procedure”, the CJ answered: “Yes, the answer is yes.”
Here are two links about that exchange in court: http://www.thinkcentre.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=2187 and http://www.thinkcentre.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=2198
I don’t sleep the night before an execution and a few days after. Its been like that for a number of years. I just stay up, thinking, or just go for a long walk by myself along some dark and quiet path somewhere….
we follow common law…which is also known as case law…however i think there is somethign giving the court of appeal the right to go against precedent …even in england Lord Denning, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Denning
made many changes to the english common law and is now one of the reformers of the system….in singapore whoeever perhaps no one wants to rock the boat…
The United Nations Human Rights Commission has weighed in their opinion on the matter, and I would like to highlight one para that says it all:
It is a fundamental human right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Alston said. “The standard accepted by the international community is that capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts.
In the same press release, this was written:
The appeal court rejected the trial court’s suggestion that it was irrelevant whether Mr Tochi had knowledge of what he was carrying. Nevertheless, it upheld his conviction. The appeal court reasoned that under Singapore law such knowledge is presumed until the defendant rebuts that presumption “on a balance of probabilities”, concluding that, “It is not sufficient for [a defendant] merely to raise a reasonable doubt.”
This got to be a joke. I’m actually living in a country where it is not sufficient for a defendant to raise a reasonable doubt when it comes to something as serious as being hanged?
Singapore is a sunny country in the tropics, but it feels so cold, so ruthlessly and efficiently cold.
Aaron,
Perhaps you should go and read the judgement. Tochi was convicted on the following two facts:
1. He was no idiot. In fact, Tochi was pretty worldly for an 18-year old.
2. He was going to be paid US$2,000 for delivering “African herbs”(?)
Think about this: if the KTM offered you US$2,000 to deliver “Chinese herbs”, would you really think they were Chinese herbs?
There is this concept in law known as precedence. Think about the consequences if we let Tochi off. You will have hundreds of drug syndicates recruiting footballer wannabes the job of delivering “African herbs” on a “dun ask dun tell” basis. The war on drugs is a war. And a war is full of harsh realities.
This is not a cold or rash decision. It’s most certainly a considered one. No judge likes to take away a person’s life callously. It will weigh on his conscience forever (!).
Do take a step back and look at the big picture.
yes, there are consequences. There will be consequences. But still, even in a case like this, when it goes against what justice should be like…one would have to weigh in the consequences for us too.
Making people believe that the judiciary is just a farce is certainly going to have its consequences too.
But i guess the government doesn’t care about the people anyway.
KTM,
I will strongly disagree with you. What you have pointed out are assumptions on the intent of Tochi, which could be easily argued the other way round.
On what basis is Tochi not an idiot and worldly for an 18-year old? Just because you are well-educated enough to think that it’s fishy for someone to offer $2,000 to carry herbs does not mean that other people are as equally smart as you to be able to realise that something is amiss. This assumption is uncharacteristic of you. I thought you would be more critical than that.
I never said that it is wrong to wage war on drugs. You totally missed the point. I am extremely upset and angry because this is a huge flaw in our judicial system. Tochi WAS presumed to be guilty and had to prove his innocence beyond reasonable doubt. Now, do you think that this is a burden that is reasonable, especially so when the punishment, when executed, is not reversible at all?
Lastly, you assume that no judge will take away a person’s life callously. Sorry, but I beg to differ. I am of the opinion that our judical system has been dishing out death penalties like routine business that each person that is being sentenced to death is now nothing more than a mere statistic. If fact, many Singaporeans (which I think you are amongst them) are desensitised to the death penalty. I suggest you take a step back too and think about the bigger picture of whether it is morally right to assume guilty unless proven innocent.
Aaron,
On what basis is Tochi not an idiot and worldly for an 18-year old?
For that, you have to read the judgement yourself in more detail. In any case, the two points above were not cooked up by the KTM. The KTM was simply summarizing what he thought was the two key points in the decision. If you want to be a reporter in the future, please go and read your primary sources. Most people (including the KTM) dunno jack about what they are saying one.
Dear KTM,
I’ve taken your point and read Yawning Bread’s piece on the issue which was based on the court judgement. Yawning Bread has placed some questions alongside some key findings of the court, which I think are pretty valid alternative interpretations. It’s precisely because of the possibility of alternative interpretations that I am quite upset about the whole issue. Whether or not Tochi is really guilty, no one can be 100% sure. But I am of the opinion that there are sufficient doubts not to warrant maximum punishment.
If anyone else is interested to read what Yawning Bread has to say, here’s the link to his article.
The fact of the matter is that with or without compelling evidence, there have been many instances of miscarriages of justice. One eg is in taiwan…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Taiwan
check under controversial death sentence.
Anyway the logical assumption regarding the herbs as stated by the KTM is true if we assume that the person in question is neither naive nor coerced by circumstances. There could be instances where the person could have been manipulated by the mastermind if the master mind was in a position of trust…alternatively because he needed the cash he did not stop to think of the other issues surrounding it…
face it…not everyone is able to think logically and rationally in different situations..
[...] I didn’t know this case even existed until I read Aaron’s post. Learnt more about the case from gayle and alex. [...]
apparently, i read that law presumes that all cases are ‘pre-decided’, that is to say, there are no open questions in law, only evidence and facts.
The fact is that he was busted red-handed, and because of that reason, his argument of ignorance would hold no ground. As they say…ignorance is not an excuse?
I am, however, still very disappointed by the miscarraige of justice, but this basic principle of justice is applicable everywhere.
So what of the judge’s ‘reasonable doubt’ comment? Perhaps it was just that. a COMMENT.
However, there is a political side to it. Remember Julia Bohl, the german who got her death sentence commuted to some years in jail? Or how about good ol’ michael fay? It shows something very simple…Singapore doesn’t give 2 hoots about nigeria. Big countries like USA, of course can. Give face mah.
Is this, then, just?
What follows are excerpts from the recent statement by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Here’s the link to the full statement: http://pseudonymity.wordpress.com/2007/01/26/un-rights-expert-calls-on-singapore-not-to-carry-out-execution/
“It is a fundamental human right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty,†Alston said. “The standard accepted by the international community is that capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts.â€
“Singapore cannot reverse the burden and require a defendant to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he didn’t know that he was carrying drugs,†Alston said.
The trial judge appears to have accepted that Mr Tochi might not have realized that the capsules he was carrying contained heroin, stating that “[t]here was no direct evidence that he knew the capsules contained diamorphine, or that he had found that out on his own†but that “ignorance did not exculpate himâ€. He was convicted and sentenced to death.
The appeal court rejected the trial court’s suggestion that it was irrelevant whether Mr Tochi had knowledge of what he was carrying. Nevertheless, it upheld his conviction.
“In the case of Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, the Government of Singapore has failed to ensure respect for the relevant legal safeguards. Under the circumstances, the execution should not proceed.â€
“Singapore’s decision to make the death penalty mandatory keeps judges from considering all of the factors relevant to determining whether a death sentence would be permissible in a capital case,†Alston said.
A middle ground for those for or against the death penalty would be to make it not mandatory thus freeing up the judges to determine the appropriate sentence based on each case. This first step is at least a start instead of the routine business of state sponsored murder.
Hi Aaron,
What also disturbs me is the complete and utter silence from our local lawyers, particularly the Law Society.
If those who are in the business of fighting for ‘justice’ turn such a total blind eye to the issue, how does a society progress to a ‘compassionate’ one?
It is ironic to me as well that being a ‘compassionate society’ is actually a declared aim of our government.
How easy it is to take a boy’s life in the name of ‘protecting society’.
Things are just not that simple.
Regards,
Andrew
theonlinecitizen
Hi Andrew,
well the current batch of law soc members are not making much noise….not to worry… i believe that there are future batches of law soc members who feel strongly…i know a few in fact
Guojun,
the Latin Term is Ignoratio Non Excusta, ignorance of the law is no excuse, however if the fella was framed then that argument cannot be used against him…but its over…
Ignoratio Non Excusat…bad typo
Dear Andrew,
I did read quite sometime ago that the law society’s doing its own review on the death penalty and that they’ll be submitting it to the ministry of home affairs. I can’t remember where i read it. It could have been some news reports or the law society’s law gazette.
As for our local lawyers, the only ones whom i know of who have spoken/written on death penalty issues in recent times, i can only think of M Ravi who also has a book titled Hung At Dawn; K.S Rajah and Subhas Anandan.
K.S Rajah has an interesting article on the mandatory death sentence: http://www.lawgazette.com.sg/2005-4/Apr05-col1.htm
I believe one can find other articles on this issue written by lawyers if one is interested to do so over at the law gazette: http://www.lawgazette.com.sg
Just type in “death penalty” in the search box.
But i also hope more of our lawyers do make some “noise” too about this mindless state-sponsored murders.
Regards.
Dear Pseudonymity,
I agree with you on the middle ground part. We need to change the legal system to allow judges room to adjust penalties according to the case, and not mete out blanket punishment. If we are heading in the way of a more caring society, we should really start with this.
Perhaps the reason why the current law society dare not make too much noise has to do with self preservation. During the 1980s, the ISA was enacted to arrest some lawyers without trial; during the “Marxist Conspiracy”…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Spectrum
Thus to prevent such a situation from occuring, it is not surprising that the current law society does not play that active a role in public policy.
Furthermore, i personally believe lawyers do not fight for justice, since justice is a rather normative concept (what is just to one may be unjust to another). The Job of a lawyer is to defend the rights of his client; justice is in the hands of the judge. However i do agree that as members of the legal profession the lawyer owes a duty to society to speak out in matters relating to the law.
Aaron,
with regards to a caring society, i believe that we are heading in the opposite direction. Just today the headlines announced that more foreign doctors would be welcome in singapore. this will now bring the rat race to the Drs doors and thus another profession will lose what nobility it has as the practitioners start to compete for the share of the income pie
more doctors in singapore?!
what are the politicians doing?! imagine you are dying of thirst and you see an oasis…a real oasis…but you can’t enter because its a holiday club for some rich foreigners and ya…
so fucked up!
Khaw Boon Wan hopes to have some ratio of doctors to patients…kinda like sweden…i wonder if the doctors in sweden are swedes or foreigners
maybe they’re singaporeans because they have no job in singapore. HAHAHA
Dear Aaron,
I think one cause of the apathy in Singapore regarding capital punishment, is that very few people have carefully thought about their views on it.
To help stimulate some discussion (and self-examination) among the apathetic, the advocates and abolitionists, I have written an article that is more questions than answers. Please feel free to give it a read:
The Death Penalty: Questioning Ourselves
Best wishes,
Speranza Nuova
Excellent piece, as expected from Speranza Nuova. I will respond on SingaporeAngle soon. Hope to see your response to it.
Cheers.
He should be hanged cos that is the law. If people dun follow Singapore law, then country would become riot, then how? Law Is Law, we should all follow it. Otherwise it is not call Law anymore. We want to be biomedical Hub, Media Hub, Law Hub, Trading Hub, Telecoms Hub, IT Hub, Casino Hub, Banking Hub, Marine Industry Hub, Airline Hub, Transport Hub, Civil Service Hub, Desalination Hub, Ammunition Hub, Landmine Hub, Electronics Hub, Logistics Hub, Energy Hub, Harry’s Hub, but we don’t need to be a Drug Trafficking Hub.
I hope you never get caught for anything dear 666. Law is law right.
Hi Everyone i feel so bad that i can’t imagine what to say. I really feel so sorry for TOCHI and his family but one thing is sure for all of us and that is “we will all die someday”. It take a Nigerian like me to feel the pains Tochi has gone through to make a living in football travelling from one country to another. Well as a Christain i believe GOD is the last judge in everything we do on earth. However, Tochi is dead {whether guilty or not guilty} and those that have hands in this will die someday too. bye
i feel sorry for Tochi but as a law student i feel that it is necessary to point out that the peoblem with the system and what you are opposing to is not so much the death penalty but the presumption of guilt in the Misuse of Drugs Act, under which Tochi had been charged. At the end of the day, it is a policy decision made by the legislature to take a harsh approach towards people dealing with drugs. As sad as Tochi’s death is, our grieve should not divert us from the real problem in the system.
hi nice site.