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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - 3 Indian FTs set free on fresh evidence</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">7:43 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 7) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>8528.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Trio set free on fresh evidence
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Sentences set aside after doubts surface over key witness' honesty </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By K. C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent
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(From left) Mr T. Raja, Mr P. Rasu and Mr S. Ramesh, who were convicted in April last year for rioting, had their 30-month jail and caning sentences set aside on Monday. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
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THREE men convicted and sentenced to 30 months' jail and six strokes of the cane each were set free on Monday after doubts surfaced over the truthfulness of the key witness in the case.
They were convicted in April last year for rioting in a beer shop in Little India which led to an Indian national being injured.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story -->What happened
April 2007 Charged with rioting.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The trio, Mr S. Ramesh, 37, Mr T. Raja and Mr P. Rasu, both 32, are also Indian nationals who worked in the construction sector here for nine to 10 years.
When they were convicted last year, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan had relied solely on the evidence of the key witness, Mr P. Govindaraj, whose statement was made out of court.
The judge did so since the victim did not give any evidence during the trial and could not be contacted after he had returned to India.
But after the trial, new evidence uncovered by two of the men's lawyers, Mr A. Jeyapalan and Mr Rakesh Vasu, showed that Mr Govindaraj had a close relationship with the victim.
He had known the victim for up to four months before the incident and had once stood bail for him in 2006. The victim had also helped Mr Govindaraj to wash dishes at the Maggi Beer Garden in Little India where the latter worked and where the fracas occurred.
The defence appealed to the High Court, which ordered the lower court to hear the fresh evidence and reconsider its decision.
During this second trial before District Judge Shaiffudin again, the defence lawyers argued that the new facts showed that Mr Govindaraj knew the victim 'reasonably well enough'. His status as an independent witness was no longer certain.
The judge agreed that the duo had a relationship which went beyond 'merely knowing each other by sight'.
'It is now plain that (Mr Govindaraj) was not an independent witness who had absolutely no agenda to lie. This was my raison d'etre for my earlier grounds of decision,' said District Judge Shaiffudin.
It was therefore 'unsafe' to 'hang the conviction' on Mr Govindaraj's evidence. The judge had no powers to alter his previous judgment as the High Court had not set aside the conviction when it asked for the case to be re-heard.
But on Monday, Justice Tay Yong Kwang ordered the convictions and sentences to be set aside and the three released, after he had read the district judge's findings and heard defence lawyers Jeyapalan, Vasu and Vijay Kumar and Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Jwee Nguan.
Lawyers said it was very rare for a case to be successfully turned on fresh evidence allowed by the court.
The three Indian nationals said yesterday they were 'relieved' that their 23-month ordeal had ended.
Friends and colleagues here and in India had raised enough bail money to reduce the time they had to spend in remand. All three intend to return to India for a while to be with their families.
And now Mr Rasu can go home with a light heart. 'I'm going back to find a bride and get married - something my parents had asked me to do for some time,' he said.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Sentences set aside after doubts surface over key witness' honesty </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By K. C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
(From left) Mr T. Raja, Mr P. Rasu and Mr S. Ramesh, who were convicted in April last year for rioting, had their 30-month jail and caning sentences set aside on Monday. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
THREE men convicted and sentenced to 30 months' jail and six strokes of the cane each were set free on Monday after doubts surfaced over the truthfulness of the key witness in the case.
They were convicted in April last year for rioting in a beer shop in Little India which led to an Indian national being injured.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story -->What happened
April 2007 Charged with rioting.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The trio, Mr S. Ramesh, 37, Mr T. Raja and Mr P. Rasu, both 32, are also Indian nationals who worked in the construction sector here for nine to 10 years.
When they were convicted last year, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan had relied solely on the evidence of the key witness, Mr P. Govindaraj, whose statement was made out of court.
The judge did so since the victim did not give any evidence during the trial and could not be contacted after he had returned to India.
But after the trial, new evidence uncovered by two of the men's lawyers, Mr A. Jeyapalan and Mr Rakesh Vasu, showed that Mr Govindaraj had a close relationship with the victim.
He had known the victim for up to four months before the incident and had once stood bail for him in 2006. The victim had also helped Mr Govindaraj to wash dishes at the Maggi Beer Garden in Little India where the latter worked and where the fracas occurred.
The defence appealed to the High Court, which ordered the lower court to hear the fresh evidence and reconsider its decision.
During this second trial before District Judge Shaiffudin again, the defence lawyers argued that the new facts showed that Mr Govindaraj knew the victim 'reasonably well enough'. His status as an independent witness was no longer certain.
The judge agreed that the duo had a relationship which went beyond 'merely knowing each other by sight'.
'It is now plain that (Mr Govindaraj) was not an independent witness who had absolutely no agenda to lie. This was my raison d'etre for my earlier grounds of decision,' said District Judge Shaiffudin.
It was therefore 'unsafe' to 'hang the conviction' on Mr Govindaraj's evidence. The judge had no powers to alter his previous judgment as the High Court had not set aside the conviction when it asked for the case to be re-heard.
But on Monday, Justice Tay Yong Kwang ordered the convictions and sentences to be set aside and the three released, after he had read the district judge's findings and heard defence lawyers Jeyapalan, Vasu and Vijay Kumar and Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Jwee Nguan.
Lawyers said it was very rare for a case to be successfully turned on fresh evidence allowed by the court.
The three Indian nationals said yesterday they were 'relieved' that their 23-month ordeal had ended.
Friends and colleagues here and in India had raised enough bail money to reduce the time they had to spend in remand. All three intend to return to India for a while to be with their families.
And now Mr Rasu can go home with a light heart. 'I'm going back to find a bride and get married - something my parents had asked me to do for some time,' he said.
[email protected]
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