Killer in Afro Asia case jailed 10 years for culpable homicide
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — A 71-year-old taxi driver who killed his lawyer’s wife by hitting her with a bicycle chain and padlock before setting the law firm in the Afro Asia building on fire was on Friday (April 1) sentenced to the maximum punishment of 10 years’ jail under a charge of culpable homicide.
In sentencing, Judicial Commissioner (JC) Hoo Sheau Peng agreed with the prosecution’s submissions that Govindasamy Nallaiah’s case was one of the more serious ones of culpable homicide not amounting to murder seen here. The attack on Low Foong Meng, 56, was also “deplorable” and caused her to sustain multiple injuries, JC Hoo added.
Govindasamy, a former Customs officer, was originally charged with murder under Section 300(d) of the Penal Code, a rarely-invoked provision that carries the death penalty or life imprisonment. There is no known case of a conviction that is based on this provision in Singapore. This limb pertains to the commission of an act that is so imminently dangerous that death is probable, as compared to the other three limbs, where death or the infliction of injuries likely to cause death are intended.
But JC Hoo in February eventually convicted him on a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which carries the maximum sentence of 10 years’ jail and a fine. The judge had disagreed with the prosecution’s case that the fire, started by Govindasamy after he knocked Low out, would be “so imminently dangerous that it must in all probability cause death”.
During the trial last year, the court heard that Govindasamy owed more than S$38,000 in legal fees to Low’s lawyer husband Rengarajoo Rengasamy Balasamy for defending him in a 2002 corruption trial. The two were childhood friends who had known each other since they were 15.
On the morning of Aug 10, 2011, which was the final deadline given to him to make payment or legal action would be taken against his children, Govindasamy went to Mr Rengarajoo’s office and negotiated with Low.
When she threatened to bankrupt his children the following day, Govindasamy hit her with a bicycle chain and padlock and used a lighter to set some files on fire before leaving the scene. Low was killed in the fire.
In mitigation, Govindasamy’s lawyers asked for a jail term of not more than seven years, arguing that there was not a streak of violence in their client. They also noted that unlike other cases where the offences were targeted at the deceased, their client’s act in question was setting a fire to burn a file and it was not directed against Low.
Adding that this was not a case of gratuitous violence, the defence said Govindasamy’s “paternal instincts got the better of him”.
Prosecutors disagreed, noting that there was pre-meditation and planning involved, such as how Govindasamy brought along the metal chain and padlock; and had disposed all incriminating evidence into a canal shortly after committing the offence.
Other aggravating factors cited by the prosecution in calling for the maximum sentence include the multiple injuries inflicted on Low, which the prosecution felt reflected the viciousness of the assault.
Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, Govindasamy’s daughter Letchmi, 45, said her family felt relieved that the case has ended.
“We are just waiting for him to come back home,” she added.
