S'porean Tiwary cleared of Sydney double murder

X-Wing · Jul 28, 2012

S'porean Tiwary cleared of Sydney double murder

AsiaOne
Friday, Jul 27, 2012

A Singaporean man convicted in 2003 of murdering his flatmates has won an appeal against his conviction.

Australia's ABC news reported that a three-judge panel in an appeal court acquitted him on Thursday, but have not yet published the reasons for the decision.

Ram Puneet Tiwary was studying in Sydney when he was accused of murdering his two Singaporean flatmates Tony Tan Poh Chuan and Tay Chow Lyang.

The trio were studying at the University of New South Wales.

The victims were stabbed and beaten to death with a baseball bat.

Tiwary had told the court he was asleep in his room at the time of the murders.

He was first convicted in 2006 for the double murders, and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

He appealed successfully two years later, and was sentenced to 48 years' jail in 2009.

He spent more than eight years in jail.

[email protected]

Brian · Sep 10, 2012

Aussie court explains Tiwary's acquittal

AsiaOne
Monday, Sep 10, 2012

Ram Puneet Tiwary, the Singaporean who was convicted twice of killing his flatmates in Australia, was acquitted due to reasonable doubt.

In a 56-page document released today by the New South Wales Court of Appeal on the grounds of release, Chief Justice Tom Bathurst, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton and Justice James Allsop said there was 'reasonable doubt' that Tiwary had committed the crime.

He had been convicted in 2006 after an 18-day trial for murdering his two Singaporean flatmates Tony Tan Poh Chuan, 27, and Tay Chow Lyang, 26, in September 2003 while they were studying in Sydney.

After a retrial, he was found guilty in Oct 2009 and was given the maximum sentence of 48 years in jail.

In July this year, a three-judge panel quashed Tiwary's conviction, citing lack of evidence.

The judges said that Tiwary had the means to kill the two victims citing his purchase of a bat and his training as a commando. However, reported The Australian, the court conceded that there was evidence that one of the victims, Mr Tan, had bought a bat for protection before his death.

The court also explained that the men could have been killed by others "for reasons unknown", reported The Straits Times. This, plus lack of forensic evidence linking Tiwary to the deaths, raised reasonable doubts.

"Accordingly, the reason for the brutal, ruthless and cold-blooded murder of two diligent and quiet-mannered students is unexplained," said the court.

Tiwary is now at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, awaiting deportation.

[email protected]

Brian · Sep 11, 2012

Tiwary's acquittal "unthinkable" to victim's family
By Alvina Soh | Posted: 10 September 2012 2233 hrs

Madam Chiew Lee Hua, mother of Tony Tan Poh Chuan

SINGAPORE: In five days' time, on 15 September, it will be nine years to the day Singaporeans Tony Tan Poh Chuan and Tay Chow Lyang were murdered in Sydney.

As Mr Tan's family continues to grieve over its loss, the Australian court's explanation on Ram Tiwary's acquittal left more questions than answers.

The New South Wales Court of Appeal on Monday explained why it had acquitted the Singaporean of murdering his flatmates Mr Tan and Mr Tay.

In a 56-page document on the grounds of release, the court said it found two bodies of evidence which raised reasonable doubt.

The first pertained to the existence of three people in a car picking up Mr Tan.

They were believed to be the last people to have seen Mr Tan alive but never came forward to help police in their investigations.

This issue raised enough doubt for the Australian court to decide to free Mr Tiwary.

To the victim's family, it was simply unthinkable.

Mr Tan's mother, Madam Chiew Lee Hua, said: "My son will never take anyone's car. When he was in the army, even if people wanted to give him a ride, he would refuse. I don't believe it."

The family has accepted the outcome even though the wounds are still fresh.

Madam Chiew said: "When the news (about the murder) keep appearing on TV, my heart keeps bleeding and it cuts at me more. Losing my only son is very painful."

Lawyers Channel NewsAsia spoke to believe that under Australian law, even if the identities of the people in the car were to be revealed eventually, or if new evidence appears, Mr Tiwary will not be tried on the new evidence, because he has been acquitted.

Lawyer Gloria James-Civetta said: "For Ram Tiwary, this is a piece of good news for him. He's being acquitted. There's no reason for him to file an appeal. What the prosecution will do is to go through the Grounds of Decision and if they feel that there are questions of law, which they are in doubt with and they need to raise this issue, that's when they will file an appeal."

What this means is that there is little or no possibility of a re-trial.

- CNA/ir

4 Strings · Sep 13, 2012

'He didn't get to be 30'

By Rennie Whang
The New Paper
Thursday, Sep 13, 2012

HER head hurts, her heart feels like it has been stabbed.

So said the mother of a victim in the Sydney double murder case. She was reacting to reasons for MrRam Tiwary’s acquittal, which were published by the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday.

“My son was wronged. He went to study, not to pick fights. He had no enemies,” Madam Chiew Lee Hua, 64, mother of Mr Tony Tan Poh Chuan, 27, told The New Paper last night.

Mr Tan and Mr Tay Chow Lyang, 26, were stabbed and clubbed to death with an aluminium baseball bat on Sept 15, 2003, in a suburban flat.

Mr Tan was found slumped against the wall beside the closed front door. He was apparently first attacked in the living room and chased up to the door.

Mr Tay was found lying on his back behind a sofa in the lounge room, with deposits of his clotted blood on a nearby computer and blood staining the surrounding walls.

Reasonable doubt

The court said the likely presence of other people and insufficient forensic evidence raised a reasonable doubt of Mr Tiwary’s guilt.

Mr Tan had been seen getting into a white car with three other people, following a noon lecture, the court said.

The car was parked facing the wrong way on a one-way street.

He was driven just hundreds of metres to his flat where, within the next 10 to 15 minutes, he was murdered.

The three have remained elusive despite police appeals.

Still, Madam Chiew said her son would refuse rides from other people as he did not like to inconvenience them.

“The house was so close by, he just needed to walk. He wouldn’t have gotin. I believe in my son,” she added.

The court also said aspects of Mr Tiwary’s account had been suspicious, but the inconsistencies could have been partly driven by fear of consequences, if he knew the reasons behind the murders.

“Of course I want him to tell us more,” said Madam Chiew.

“But why would he say anything else now that he’s free? I have no closure, but it can’t be helped.”

Throughout the interview at her three-room Dover Road flat, Madam Chew spoke of the pity of her son’s death.

She recalled that then-Lieutenant Mr Tan, a Singapore Armed Forces scholar, had said he would get “crabs” on his uniform by the time he was 30 years old.

This refers to crests given to Majors, Lieutenant-Colonels, Colonels and above.

“He didn’t get to be 30.”

Mr Tiwary, who had always maintained his innocence, was tried and convicted of both murders in 2006. A retrial was ordered in 2008 and he was again found guilty.

He was sentenced to 48 years’ jail in 2009, but was acquitted on July 26.

Vultan · Oct 9, 2012

Australian prosecutors not appealing against Ram Tiwary's acquittal
Posted: 08 October 2012 1349 hrs

SYDNEY: Australian prosecutors have decided not to appeal against a court decision to acquit Singaporean Ram Tiwary of a 2003 double murder in Sydney.

The Director of Public Prosecutions of the Australian state of New South Wales indicated this on Monday.

Mr Tiwary, 33, was acquitted on 27 July this year of murdering two Singaporean flatmates -- Mr Tay Chow Lyang and Mr Tony Tan Poh Chuan, both aged 26, in 2003.

The two were stabbed and clubbed to death with a baseball bat.

Mr Tiwary, who was on a scholarship from the Singapore Armed Forces, spent more than eight years behind bars in Australia.

A Sydney appeals court explained on 10 September this year that it decided to acquit Mr Tiwary as it found reasonable doubt in two areas.

One was the existence of three people in a car that picked up Mr Tan, who the court said were the last people to see Mr Tan alive but did not come forward to help the police despite media coverage asking them to do so.

The second area was the "dearth of forensic material" linking Mr Tiwary to the death of his flatmates.

The prosecution had 28 days to appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal against the acquittal. This lapsed in early October.

Mr Tiwary, who was held at the Villawood immigration detention centre while waiting for the necessary documents, returned to Singapore last month.

- CNA/al

S'porean Tiwary cleared of Sydney double murder

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