Alex Josey - The Perfect Murder

2020 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd

First published in 1973 by Asia Pacific Press

Published by Marshall Cavendish Editions

An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International

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National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Name(s): Josey, Alex.

Title: The perfect murder : the trial of Sunny Ang / Alex Josey.

Description: Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, [2020] | First published in 1973 by Asia Pacific Press and subsequently compiled under Cold blooded murders in 2009 by Marshall Cavendish Editions.

Identifier(s): OCN 1150685835 | e-ISBN: 978 981 4893 56 5

Subject(s): LCSH: Trials (Murder)--Singapore. | Murder--Singapore. | Singapore--Trials, litigation, etc.

Classification: DDC 345.595702523--dc23

Printed in Singapore

He might have succeeded had not his impatience to collect the insurance on the girl he murdered arouse the suspicions of the police. Highly intelligent, he realised this might happen: he did not care. He believed this was a risk he could well afford to take. Having carried out a faultless murder, in effect he challenged the state prosecutor to a deadly battle of wits. That was his fatal mistake.

Alex Josey

Pulau Dua are two little islands separated by a straits about 700 feet apart. The straits vary in depth between 3035 feet.

The islands are about four miles from Jardine Steps in Singapore Harbour and they are among the southernmost islands of the Southern Islands, beyond which stretches the open seas, with Indonesia in the distance The waters are extremely hazardous. They are dangerous because of the remarkable eddies and swirls which occur there, and the speed of the current around the islands varies with the speed of the tides from half a knot to some four knots.

Crown Counsel

Members of the jury, have you agreed upon your verdict?

Yes.

What is your verdict?

Guilty.

Is that unanimous or by a majority?

It is unanimous.

Justice Buttrose addressed the young man in the dock, Ang, the jury have by a unanimous verdict found you guilty of this crime of murder, and I accordingly convict you. The judge turned to Counsel. Do either of you wish to address me?

No, my Lord.

Justice Buttrose said, Ang you have been convicted by the unanimous verdict of the jury of a terrible crime. You killed this young girl Jenny, whose only fault apparently was that she had the misfortune to fall in love with you, and to give you everything she possessed: her all. You killed her for personal gain. It is a crime cunningly contrived to give the appearance of an accident, and it was carried out with consummate coolness and nerve. At long last the time has come for you to pay the penalty for your dreadful deed.

Ang showed no emotion. The faint smile, which had been on his thin lips through most of the 13 day trial, was still there as the judge sentenced him to death. Outside the courtroom, his law student sister, Juliet Ang, broke down and cried.

***

August 1963 was a month of intense political activity in the tropical island state of Singapore. Strong feelings had also been aroused by the discovery, by workmen digging foundations, of human bones, further proof of Japanese military atrocities during WWII. Most of Singapores population of some two million are of Chinese origin and they had suffered considerably during the Japanese occupation. Politically, Singapore (lying at the foot of the Malay Peninsula, an island where most of the equatorial swamps and jungle had turned into modern roads, industrial sites and commercial centres) was fast moving into complete independence through merger with Malaya and the creation of Malaysia. This experiment in multiracialism regrettably failed when Singapore was separated from Malaysia two years later.

In August 1963, the local newspapers were full of the sensational case in England involving Christine Keeler and a British Cabinet Minister. In Moscow, leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union drank champagne after signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Sir Alec Home, the British Prime Minister, said that the world had become a safer place.

In Washington, President Kennedys two-day-old son died in hospital. Monks in Vietnam burnt themselves to death. In Britain, the Great Train Robbery of more than 2.5 million thrilled the world. In Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, a member of parliament accused the minister of education, Abdul Rahim bin Haji Talib, of corruption. Say that outside, demanded the minister. Obligingly, the member did. The minister took him to court, and lost.

Lord Nuffield died, and ended an era. There was a drought in Singapore, where 71 secret society gangsters were charged with murder during a riot at an open prison on a nearby isle, Pulau Senang, the previous month. Eighteen were later hanged.

During much of August 1963, Singapore was preparing for Malaysia Day, the last day of the month when the creation of Malaysia would be celebrated. Indonesia, just across the waters, was already objecting, and Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malayas prime minister, had flown to Manila to talk to President Sukarno and President Macapagal. Agreement was reached that the United Nations be asked to satisfy themselves (which they did) that the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak in fact wanted to become part of Malaysia. At these talks Sukarno described Tunku as a great statesman and Macapagal a great leader of Asia. For his part, the Tunku was prepared to admit that Sukarno and Macapagal were both dynamic leaders who have fought colonialism and imperialism. Within days, the agreement collapsed. After abandoning the United Nations, Sukarno spent much of the following three years trying to smash Malaysia.