Double murdercase in Singapore, Briton accused

[dot dot dot]

I turn into a monster once injustice has been done to my friends or family.

But also for criminals, I have no mercy at all. I know what you mean, I might be a compassionate guy, but with limits. Beyond that, I am different.

"La viceroy" it will be, the one and only!

Eric

[Viceroy Isabel Kebab Iota]

I turn into a monster once injustice has been done to my friends or family.Eric

Interesting that you have used the present tense. I'm going to make the inference that something awful did happen and for that I will make good use of the slow-motion, flash back footage in your movie...

[Wind In My Hair]

For example 'heat of the moment murders' are unintentional and how to deal with such is debateable.

doesn't the legal definition of murder involve pre-meditation? so if it was unintentional i think it's considered manslaughter, not murder. here anyway. i don't think capital punishment applies to manslaughter.

[Plavt]

For example 'heat of the moment murders' are unintentional and how to deal with such is debateable.

doesn't the legal definition of murder involve pre-meditation? so if it was unintentional i think it's considered manslaughter, not murder. here anyway. i don't think capital punishment applies to manslaughter.

You may well be right, please remember I have never lived in Singapore and the definition of murder may be different to the UK. I must confess now you have raised it, I don't know how it is defined here. Just learned something new.


Plavt.

[dot dot dot]

Wimh is right, it will then be manslaughter, which does not carry the deathpenalty here, whereas murder here carries a mandatory deathpenalty in Singapore.

That was my question initially: How can a legal mandatory deathpenalty not be imposed in this case, if Mc Crea is found guilty of murder? I am sure this is being dealt with on a legal basis already, but I find it a strange case from a legal point of view.

Mc Crea in the meantime is doing all he can to get a less than life imprisonment.

Oct 6, 2005
DOUBLE MURDER
Suspect to go for psychiatric test

By Chong Chee Kin

ALLEGED murderer Michael McCrea has been remanded for an extra three weeks to undergo psychiatric assessment.

In a court appearance lasting less than five minutes yesterday, the 43-year-old Briton was told he would remain in custody until his next appearance in court on Oct 26.

The former financial adviser is charged with the murders of taxi driver Kho Nai Guan, 46, and Ms Lan Ya Ming, 29. Their bodies were discovered in a car in the Orchard Towers carpark in January 2002.

The murders were allegedly committed in McCrea's apartment at Pinewood Gardens in Balmoral Park.

McCrea left Singapore before the bodies were found and was eventually arrested in Melbourne, where he spent the last three years fighting extradition from his cell in Port Phillip Prison.

He was finally brought to Singapore last week.

Yesterday, McCrea's lawyer Kelvin Lim said he would be trying to get the murder charges reduced to one of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, an offence that carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence.

Although Mr Lim said it was too early to speculate if the charges would be reduced, he added that his client would probably plead guilty to a lesser charge.

One thing is certain: McCrea will not hang. The Singapore Government gave an undertaking three years ago that the accused would not receive the death penalty, even if found guilty of murder.

Australian law does not allow any prisoner to be extradited to a country where he may face the death penalty.

Mr Lim met his client for two hours on Tuesday.

At the meeting, Mr Lim said, McCrea told him he was suffering from 'post-traumatic stress disorder' as a result of being struck on the head by Mr Kho during the fight that resulted in the latter's death.

Mr Lim said his client appeared tired, in contrast to the jovial and upbeat man who made his first appearance in a Singapore court last week.

McCrea claimed he was very stressed and was unable to sleep.

The defence is likely to argue that the suspect reacted to a 'grave and sudden provocation' from Mr Kho, which led to a fight in which McCrea 'exercised his right of self-defence'.

'From what he told me, he loved Mr Kho like a brother. My client said he paid him so much in bonuses when he was working for him as his driver,' Mr Lim said.

Eric