High Court sentenced five kidnappers to death

Monday, 8th October 1973

The Singapore High Court sentenced five kidnappers to death, under the Kidnapping Act (Cap 101, 1970 Ed), after they pleaded guilty to the abduction of Mr. Tjioe Kow Hwie, an Indonesian businessman, from his Watten Estate home on 14 March 1972. The kidnappers also successfully obtained ransom money of SGD $50,000 and released Mr. Tjioe.  Believed to the first case of its kind here, the Court rejected the contention that a guilty plea with life imprisonment sentence would set a dangerous precedent for potential kidnappers.  It was also contrary to public interest. The Court applied the discretion that life imprisonment in kidnapping for ransom would only be imposed under very exceptional circumstances.

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