Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi (1985[1]–26 January 2007) was a Nigerian national convicted of drug trafficking in Singapore.
Tochi claimed Smith gave him pocket money and food and offered to help him obtain a visa in Dubai.
One hundred capsules of diamorphine were found on him with a total weight of 727.02 grammes (a bit over a pound and a half), estimated by authorities to be worth S$1.5m (US$970,000).
[4] Tochi claimed that the capsules he carried were for a friend and insisted they were African herbs that tasted like chocolate.
[5] Malachy denied being part of the conspiracy to import drugs, saying he came to Singapore to look for a second-hand car for use in South Africa.
[9] These two aspects of Singapore law, the non-requirement for proof of mens rea (guilty intention) and mandatory sentencing, have been criticised for being inconsistent with international legal standards.
In his judgement, Justice Kan Ting Chiu noted that Tochi might not have known that the capsules contained diamorphine.
There must be a reason for Smith to offer him the large sum of US$2000 to deliver the capsules of herbs when he was already funding his passages to Dubai and to Singapore.
He must have realised that Smith was offering him much more than was reasonable for putting him through the minor inconvenience of meeting up with Marshal at the airport terminal and handing the capsules to him.
He should have asked to be shown and be assured of the contents before agreeing to deliver them, and he could have used the ample opportunities he had when he had the capsules to check them himself, but he did nothing.
[11] Kan also found that he had willfully turned a blind eye to the contents of the capsules because he was tempted by the US$2000, which was a large sum to him.
When Smith, who had befriended him and had appeared to help him get out of Pakistan, also offered him US$2000, he did not want to ask any questions or check the capsules himself.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo issued an official appeal only 48 hours before the scheduled execution.
Some activists, maintaining that Tochi was innocent, announced a hunger strike in protest against the execution, beginning at 7 am on 25 January 2007, at Singapore's Speaker's Corner, moving to outside Changi Prison 12 hours later, and continuing until the execution of Tochi at the prison before dawn on the next day.
[13] Tochi was executed on 26 January 2007 at around 06:00 SST (22:00 UTC) in Changi Prison, according to Stanley Seah, an assistant superintendent at Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau.