Kovan murder trial: Failed CCTV ruse led to confrontation, court hears
The elder Mr Tan’s children, Mr David Tan (left) and Ms Josephine Tan (right), and Mdm Ong’s brother Ong Boon Kok during a press conference at the Hillside Drive house today. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — His best-laid plans to clear a bank debt by robbing car workshop owner Tan Boon Sin fell apart because he overlooked putting batteries into a dummy CCTV camera used to dupe the victim into removing valuables from a safe deposit box, testified Iskandar Rahmat, who is facing double murder charges, today (Oct 30).
Taking the stand for the first time, Iskandar, 36, claimed that Mr Tan, 67, confronted him with a knife about the ruse, forcing him to stab the latter — and his son — in self-defence.
Arguing that his original plan was to snatch the valuables and flee in a cab, he told a packed courtroom: “If I had intention to kill, I would have done it the moment I reached the house and had sight of the orange bag (which contained the valuables). I went there unarmed.”
Iskandar added that he also would have brought a change of clothes along with him. “I would have expected blood on myself ... how would I have been able to go to the main road and hail a cab?”
The prosecution’s case is that Iskandar — then an active policeman — had intended to kill Mr Tan and his son Chee Heong, 42, when he carried out the planned robbery on July 10, 2013. But Iskandar maintains his ruse was going according to plan until Mr Tan confronted him about the dummy camera.
Earlier in the trial, the court heard that Iskandar posed as an intelligence officer with the police force and cooked up a story about thieves intending to strike at Certis CISCO’s safe deposit boxes again — months earlier, there had been a spate of such cases. His cover story was that Mr Tan could help in an operation to nab the culprits by removing his valuables from his safe deposit box and placing a CCTV camera inside. He would then escort Mr Tan back to his Hillside Drive house to make sure the valuables were safe.
Giving his version of events for three hours today, Iskandar said he had a “passing idea” to target Mr Tan’s money to clear his debt as early as eight months earlier, when the victim lodged reports about stolen old Singapore currency notes from his safe deposit box.
Iskandar owed OCBC S$65,000 then and was facing the possibility of being sacked from the police force for financial embarrassment. On the day of the double deaths, things largely went as Iskandar wanted.
But after he came out of the toilet in Mr Tan’s house, Iskandar noticed that the bag of valuables was no longer in sight and began to panic.
When he tried to trick Mr Tan that it was safe to return the valuables to the safe deposit box because the culprit had been caught, the victim exposed his ploy, allegedly saying in Malay: “You cheated me, the CCTV camera does not contain batteries.”
Iskandar claimed that Mr Tan then charged towards him with a knife and cut him on his right hand. In the ensuing struggle, Iskandar wrested the knife from him and swung it at him “five to six times” — an autopsy on Mr Tan showed 12 stab wounds.
“I just wanted him to get off me,” said Iskandar, claiming that Mr Tan was pulling at his clothes and biting him. As he felt Mr Tan’s hold on him weaken, Iskandar lowered him and heard the younger Mr Tan running into the house, calling for his father. In fending off punches, Iskandar said he struck back, forgetting that he was still holding the knife. “It all happened very fast, one thing led to another ... it was a blur ... At that time, I didn’t care about the money anymore, I was fearing for my life,” he said.
After the younger Tan staggered out of the house, Iskandar combed the bloodied floor for his belongings and wrapped his wounded hand in a towel.
While the prosecution charged that Iskandar had intentionally reversed the car into the younger Tan, Iskandar said he never knew the body was being dragged under the car, and that the younger Tan was still alive the last time he saw him. He learnt about the deaths on the Internet hours later.
Iskandar also told the court he drove back along Upper Serangoon Road to Hillside Drive as he felt “remorseful”. “I felt remorseful that the turn of events was ... so far away from what I imagined it to be. I said some prayers, wanted to say sorry,” he said.
The trial continues on Nov 9, when Iskandar will be cross-examined by the prosecution.
