Sep 3, 2010
2 escape death sentence
<!-- by line --> By Selina Lum
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TWO men who had tried to give up their right to appeal against the death sentence two years ago have escaped the hangman's noose after the Court of Appeal overturned their murder convictions. Instead Daniel Vijay Katherasan and Christopher Samson Anpalagan, both 27, were found guilty of robbery with hurt, which carries jail of between five to 20 years and at least 12 strokes of the cane.
The pair were then in a group of three that had ambushed a lorry loaded with 2,700 cellphones in May 2006 to rob its $1.3 million cargo. During the robbery, the third man, Nakamuthu Balakrishnan bashed lorry driver Wan Cheon Kem, 46, with a baseball bat. Mr Wan died six days later.
In May 2008, High Court found Daniel Vijay and Christopher Samson, who did not directly assault Mr Wan, guilty of murder by common intention. But on Friday, the Court of Appeal found that common intention was not proved and that the pair did not know Nakamuthu would cause Mr Wan's death.
