Rolex watch murder
In the early morning hours of 20 April 1998, in Marina South, Central, Singapore, a 23-year-old Malaysian named Jonaris Badlishah, who was the nephew of the Sultan of Kedah, brutally murdered 42-year-old beautician Sally Poh Bee Eng in order to rob her of her Rolex watch, which he wanted to give to his girlfriend as a birthday present.
In his trial, Jonaris pled the murder charge with a defence of diminished responsibility, claiming that he was depressed, intoxicated with drugs and heard voices telling him to kill the victim.
The victim was later identified as 42-year-old Sally Poh Bee Eng (傅美英; Fù Měiyīng, alternative Chinese name 蒲良旭; Pú Liángxù), who was a beautician and make-up artist for low budget films.
At the time of her death, Poh was married to a 47-year-old teacher Lee Boon Siang (李文祥; Lǐ Wénxiáng), and they had two grown-up children, a son and daughter.
The police found that some of her valuables were missing, including a Rolex watch, which was bought by her husband three years prior to her murder.
He was defended by lawyer Peter Fernando and Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jasbendar Kaur of the Attorney-General's Chambers led the prosecution.
For this, the prosecution argued that Jonaris was able to carefully draft out a plan to murder Poh and used a fake name in order to meticulously carry out the crime.
She said she asked Jonaris but he was angry in response, to which she told him she was joking and thanked him, without knowing that he robbed the watch from Poh before killing her at Marina South.
As he walked away from the scene after taking her watch, he said he felt a kind of "happiness and relief" that he had never before experienced: The colour of the water, the sky, the bird, was so new.
[17] Jonaris said that after robbing Poh of her Rolex watch, he went home to take a nap, and when he woke up, he thought he had had a nightmare of killing a person.
He said that when he was young, his Singaporean mother Elizabeth Seet divorced his father, Tengku Abdul Hamid Thani (who was the brother of the Sultan of Kedah), before she was married to Robert Seah.
The child abuse suffered by Jonaris was confirmed by his mother who took the stand and gave her testimony, and Seet said that her second husband Seah disliked her sons from the previous marriage and asked her to consider them as her nephews rather than her children.
[18][19] Dr Chan Khim Yew, who was the prosecution's psychiatrist, assessed Jonaris and found that he was not suffering from depression or any abnormality of the mind.
[22] On 8 December 1998, after a 19-day trial, Judicial Commissioner Amarjeet Singh released his final verdict, ruling that Jonaris was not suffering from diminished responsibility when he murdered Poh.
He judged that Jonaris was normal, and was able to work hard, mingle with his friends, and fall in love with Saifon Ngammoo, which was not a symptom of any depressed mood or mental illnesses nearing or on the day of the murder.
He added that when Sally Poh regained consciousness and tried to crawl away, Jonaris continually attacked her in cold blood by hitting her on the head until her skull broke into pieces.
Hence, it was judged that he was to face full responsibility and punishment for his cruel and inhumane conduct for depriving Poh of her possessions and right to live, in order to satisfy his greed.
[26] After Jonaris's trial and execution, Saifon Ngammoo returned to Thailand and settled in her hometown, where she built a house there with her Nepalese husband.
