June 28
SINGAPORE:
Man to hang for 'brutal' murder of wife's ex-lover
A 58-year-old businessman was yesterday sentenced to the gallows for the
"bloody and brutal" murder of his wife's former lover.
Chia Kee Chen was originally given life imprisonment by the High Court after
being convicted of murder last year.
But a 3-judge Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decision and allowed an
appeal by prosecutors for the death penalty.
The apex court said that Chia's actions had "exhibited such viciousness and
such a blatant disregard for the life of the deceased, and are so grievous an
affront to humanity and so abhorrent that the death penalty is the appropriate,
indeed the only adequate, sentence".
The court noted that the death penalty, being the "final and terminal
sentence", should be imposed only after "the most anxious consideration".
Chia abducted the victim, material analyst Dexmon Chua Yizhi, 37, near his Choa
Chu Kang flat, forced him into the back of a van and severely assaulted him
between Dec 28 and Dec 29 in 2013.
The Singaporean had an accomplice, Indonesian Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko, 35, who
later fled the country.
A 2nd accomplice, Chua Leong Aik, 67, who drove the van, is serving a 5-year
term.
The victim's body was later dumped in a military live firing area in Lim Chu
Kang.
Explaining its reasons for imposing the death sentence, the court said Chia was
the mastermind as he had wanted to exact revenge on the victim for carrying on
an affair with his wife, who is 52 this year.
After Chia found out about the extramarital affair in November 2012, Mr Chua
made police reports about Chia making threatening phone calls to him and
stalking him.
Although the defence argued that Febri was the one who inflicted the blows, the
court pointed out that he was doing so under Chia's directions.
"One who hires an assassin to kill another or who otherwise controls a killer
cannot be less culpable than the one who does the killing," said Chief Justice
Sundaresh Menon, who delivered the judgment.
The court added that Chia did not tell Febri to stop attacking the victim but
joined in the assault. The court also said Chia showed a high degree of
planning and premeditation.
He was familiar with the victim's movements, recruited accomplices, procured a
van, and knew where to dump the body.
The attack on the victim was "undeniably vicious and brutal", said the court.
Almost every facial bone, from the victim's eye socket to the lower jaw, was
fractured. Blood was found on the ceiling, rear door and side of the van.
The court also noted that after dumping the body and washing the van, Chia
calmly left for Malaysia with his wife and daughters for a holiday, using the
opportunity to take Febri out of Singapore.
Referring to Chua's police statements, the court said the picture that emerges
was that Chia wanted the victim to suffer as much as possible.
"The only regret that Chia ever expressed was that the deceased had died before
he could cause the deceased even more suffering."
(source: tnp.sg)
IRAN----executions
2 Prisoners Hanged in Karaj
2 prisoners were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison on murder charges.
According to a close source, on the morning of Wednesday, June 27, 2 prisoners
were executed at Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. The prisoners, charged with
murder, were identified as Safa Ali Jalali from ward 1 and Majid Heydari from
ward 7.
The prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement in a group of 11. 8
of them were able to ask for time from the plaintiffs and return to their cells
and 1 of them, named Javad Darabi, is still held at the solitary confinement.
A close source told IHR, "Javad Darabi was transferred to the solitary
confinement a week earlier by mistake. He will be executed next week. Now he
has to stay in the solitary confinement until next week in this hot weather."
The execution of these prisoners has not been announced by the state-run media
so far.
According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the
517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. There
is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in
issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and
intent.
(source: Iran Human Rights)
*************************
Rights Group Outraged by Iran's Apparent Execution of Juvenile Offender
An international rights group said it had learned that Iran quietly executed a
teenager for a crime he committed when he was 14 years old.
Amnesty International's London-based Iran researcher Raha Bahreini told VOA
Persian her group heard from local sources that Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi was
executed Wednesday at dawn in Qom prison, south of Tehran.
Sharahi had been sentenced to death in September 2014 for fatally stabbing a
young man during a fight in December 2013, when Sharahi was 14. Bahreini said
Iranian authorities transferred him to solitary confinement on Tuesday in
preparation for his execution - the 5th such transfer since 2014.
"Sadly, this appalling development was not brought to the attention of domestic
and international human rights groups until the early hours of Wednesday, and
this allowed the judicial authorities to carry out his unlawful execution
quietly and without attracting the public outcries that generally emerge when a
juvenile offender is scheduled for execution in the country," Bahreini said.
There was no immediate confirmation of Sharahi's execution from Iranian state
media.
Bahreini said Amnesty was outraged that Iranian authorities had not taken
systematic steps to end what she called the "horrendous practice of executing
juvenile offenders."
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran ratified in 1993,
prohibits the use of the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, for
crimes committed by individuals younger than 18 years old.
Under Iran's penal code, the death penalty can be handed down to boys as young
as 14 years and 6 months, or the equivalent of 15 lunar years - the age of
adult criminal responsibility for males in Iran.
In February, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
issued a statement criticizing Iran for violating what he called the "absolute
prohibition" on using the death penalty against juvenile offenders, saying it
committed such violations "far more often than any other state."
(source: voanews.com)
CHINA:
In China the death penalty on the Playground drug dealers sentenced
In the city district of Haikou, about 300 people watched the death penalty of 2
men convicted in the trade in narcotic substances. The spectators, among whom
were children, watched as the accused were shot.
Media and human rights organizations raised the alarm because of the incident
in the Chinese district of Haikou, where the local court were sentenced to
death 2 drug dealers. The sentence was executed on the Playground of the city
in front of about 300 people. Children and adults watched as the men shot. Some
children were at the place of execution, together with their teacher of natural
history. Their teacher thinks is right that minors face death sentenced, as
this will help to "educate" and "scare" them.
This public execution is held in China as part of the government's fight the
country's drug abuse and illicit trafficking in narcotic substances. One
executed offender was 39 years, in 2015 he was accused of illegal sale of drugs
defendant purchased in the mail. The 2nd defendant was 36 years old, he was
accused of transporting and selling drugs in 2015.
(source: The Siver Telegram)
BARBADOS:
CCJ strikes down mandatory death penalty in Barbados
Judgments were delivered by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in a pair of
unrelated death penalty cases from Barbados.
The cases, Jabari Sensimania Nervais v The Queen and Dwayne Omar Severin v The
Queen, were consolidated because both appeals challenged the murder convictions
of each of the men and the constitutionality of the mandatory death sentence
for murder in Barbados.
The Court stated that a section of the Offences Against the Person Act was
unconstitutional because it provided for a mandatory sentence of death. In
addition, both men had their appeals against their convictions dismissed.
These are the last judgments that the Rt. Hon. Sir Dennis Byron will deliver as
CCJ President as he will demit office on Tuesday, 4 July 2018.
Before examining the issues raised by the appeal, the CCJ considered the state
of the mandatory death penalty in Barbados for murder and found that it was
indisputable that the nation, through its actions, had acknowledged that it had
an obligation to remove such mandatory sentence under section 2 of the Offences
against the Person Act.
Barbados had also given undertakings to the CCJ and the Inter American Court of
Human Rights to rectify the mandatory sentence which was reflected in the
Barbados Privy Council's consistent commutation of the mandatory death penalty.
The CCJ held that section 11 of the Constitution, which gives the right to
protection of the law, was enforceable.
The CCJ found that the mandatory death penalty breached that right as it
deprived a court of the opportunity to exercise the quintessential judicial
function of tailoring the punishment to fit the crime.
Mr. Justice Anderson disagreed with the majority's view and stated that the
appeals should be allowed on the basis that the judicial monopoly on the power
to sentence, which is protected by the separation of powers principle, is
consistent with "ensuring respect for, and adherence to, the ongoing evolution
in the protection of human rights'.
The CCJ ordered that the appellants be expeditiously brought before the Supreme
Court for resentencing.
Mr. Nervais was convicted of the murder of Mr. Jason Barton and the mandatory
sentence of death by hanging was imposed on him.
Mr. Barton was selling from a booth when an alarm was raised that caused him,
and the people gathered around, to run away.
Gunshots were fired by a group of men and Mr. Barton was struck by a bullet and
died. Later, Mr. Nervais was arrested and charged with Barton???s murder after
he made oral statements and a written confession to a police officer.
The Court of Appeal in Barbados dismissed his appeal against conviction and
affirmed his sentence.
Mr. Nervais raised a number of grounds of appeal before the CCJ including
addressing the trial judge's alleged misstep in telling the jury that a
witness' evidence corroborated the disputed written statement.
As his 2nd ground of appeal, Nervais contended that the learned trial judge
usurped the fact-finding function of the jury because she determined a fact
that was in issue, which undermined his alibi. However, in these, and 3 other
grounds raised by Mr. Nervais, the Court was satisfied that the judge did not
usurp the function of the jury, there was no error or misdirection, and the
necessary procedures were followed by the police.
In the other case, Mr. Severin was convicted before a judge and jury for the
murder of Mr. Virgil Barton in St. Phillip.
The prosecution relied heavily on the evidence of Mr. Barton's nephew, Mr. Judd
Barton, who testified that he saw 2 men shoot at the deceased. Mr. Barton's
nephew managed to escape but not before recognizing 1 of the shooters, whom he
had seen on 2 previous occasions.
While investigating Mr. Judd Barton's suspicions, the police conducted a search
of Mr. Severin's residence and found a Taurus semi-automatic gun along with 31
9mm rounds in his bedroom. Forensic testing confirmed that 3 of 14 cartridges
retrieved from the murder scene were fired from that gun.
In his appeal to the CCJ, Mr. Severin challenged the reliability of Mr.
Barton's evidence, the fairness of the informal identification parade, and the
instructions given by the judge to the jury at the trial.
After considering Mr. Barton's evidence, the CCJ expressed its satisfaction
that the shooter's features would have been "fresh" in his mind. The CCJ
determined that the judge placed a balanced case before the jury, although
there was the view that the judge could have been clearer in his lengthy
instructions to them.
The appeals were heard together on 25th January 2018 by the Bench of the CCJ
comprising the Rt. Hon. Sir Dennis Byron, President of the CCJ, and the
Honourable Messrs. Justices Saunders, Wit, Hayton, Anderson, Rajnauth-Lee and
Barrow. The appellants were represented by Mr. Douglas L. Mendes SC, Mr. Andrew
O. G. Pilgrim QC, Ms. Naomi J. E. Lynton and Ms. Kamisha Benjamin. The
respondent was represented by Mr. Anthony L. Blackman, Deputy Director of
Public Prosecutions (Acting); Ms. Krystal C. Delaney, Senior Crown Counsel and
Mr. Neville Watson.
The full judgment of the Court, and a judgment summary, are available on the
Court's website at www.ccj.org.
(source: stlucianewsonline.com)
INDIA:
Punjab adopts death penalty for rape of below-12 girls----Besides death penalty
for rape of a girl under 12 years of age, the criminal law ordinance amended
the Indian Penal Code to enhance minimum punishment for rape from the existing
7 to 10 years
The Punjab cabinet on Wednesday decided to extend to the state 2 ordinances
relating to cases involving rapes and fugitive economic offenders, as recently
promulgated by the Union government.
The meeting approved republication of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance
2018 of the centre, to make the law on rape more stringent, in the Punjab
gazette. Further, in consonance with the finance ministry's proposal of
promulgating the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance 2018, the state cabinet
gave its nod to republish the aforesaid ordinance in the official gazette of
the state.
Besides death penalty for rape of a girl under 12 years of age, the criminal
law ordinance amended the Indian Penal Code to provide for enhancement of
minimum punishment for rape from the existing 7 to 10 years. The minimum
punishment for the offence of rape of a girl child under 16 years of age has
been fixed at life imprisonment, as against the earlier provision of 20 years.
The Code of Criminal Procedure has also been amended under the ordinance to
ensure mandatory completion of investigation in rape cases within 2 months.
Trial of rape cases is also required to be completed in 2 months, with a total
limit of 6 months fixed for disposal of appeals in all rape cases. The
provision of anticipatory bail to the person accused of rape or gangrape of a
girl under 12 years or 16 years of age has also been done away. Further the
high court or the court of sessions, before deciding the regular bail
applications, will give notice of 15 days to the public prosecutor to appear
for hearing of the application, where presence of a person authorised by victim
shall be mandatory.
As far as the fugitive economic offenders are concerned, the ordinance empowers
the authorities to attach and confiscate properties and assets of economic
offenders, such as loan defaulters, who flee the country. The ordinance was
promulgated by the Centre in the wake of the recent financial frauds,
especially the Rs 13,000-crore loan scam wherein Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi
fled the country.
(source: Hindustan Times)
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