Apex court dismisses Kho Jabing's appeal against death penalty

SINGAPORE: Convicted murderer Kho Jabing will face the death penalty, after the Court of Appeal on Friday (May 20) dismissed an application to block Kho's execution for the second time in two days.

"This case has been about many things. But today it is about the abuse of the process of the court," Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin said.

The court of five judges chided Kho's lawyers, Ms Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss and Mr Alfred Dodwell, for launching two last-minute appeals contesting issues which they could have raised much earlier, including that of the constitutionality of the re-sentencing regime.

"You knew very well the execution was to have taken place last year," JA Chao Hick Tin told the pair. Addressing the lawyers' filing of applications one after another, the judge said the legal system "will fall into disrepute if we allow the system to be scuttled" this way.

The court pointed out Kho has tried multiple times to escape the gallows via several appeals, all of which have been dismissed. "He has gone away and sought relief by means of civil action. This cannot be allowed," JA Chao said.

Ms Chong-Arduldoss and Mr Dodwell had filed separate civil actions on Thursday in relation to Kho's case, which is a criminal matter. Both last-minute actions sought a stay of execution for Kho.

Senior State Counsel Francis Ng said Kho's lawyers had done this to "skirt around" current processes and to buy more time for Kho, whose execution was scheduled for Friday morning. Mr Ng added the two civil actions had been filed by "different lawyers, (but contained the) same arguments". This is an abuse of the process, he said.

Kho's execution was scheduled for Friday morning. But after two last-ditch attempts by lawyers on Thursday, Kho was granted a stay of execution hours before he would have been led to the gallows.

One motion, filed by lawyer Gino Singh on Wednesday to halt the execution was dismissed by the five-judge Court of Appeal on Thursday afternoon. Mr Singh had made allegations of possible bias against Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang, who had considered two of Kho's past appeals in 2010 and 2013.

After Mr Singh's motion was dismissed, leaving Kho vulnerable to execution once more, the prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Francis Ng, informed the Court of Appeal there had been a second application filed early Thursday morning.

This was filed by Ms Chong-Aruldoss. DPP Ng called the filing of multiple applications by different lawyers in a day "an abuse of the process". Mr Dodwell had also filed an application, though he withdrew it the same day.

Ms Chong-Aruldoss' application for a stay of execution was heard behind closed doors at 5.30pm on Thursday evening. Three hours later, it was dismissed by Judicial Commissioner Kannan Ramesh.

But Ms Chong-Aruldoss appealed against this dismissal, halting Kho's execution a few hours before it was to be carried out.

In response to Channel NewsAsia's queries, the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore later confirmed that Kho Jabing would be executed on Friday afternoon. It added that it was "assisting Jabing's family in this matter".

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) confirmed in a news release at around 6.10pm on Friday that Kho had been executed on Friday at Changi Prison Complex. SPF said he had been "accorded full due process under the law".