Older of 2 brothers in murder case acquitted

[Sun Quan]

Jul 5, 2011

Older of 2 brothers in murder case acquitted

By Selina Lum

The crime scene where Madam Tham Weng Kuen was murdered. Ismil Kadar, the older of two brothers accused of murdering an elderly housewife six years ago, was acquitted and released from prison on Tuesday. -- ST FILE PHOTO

THE older of two brothers accused of murdering an elderly housewife six years ago was acquitted and released from prison on Tuesday in a dramatic final twist to a long-running court case that an appeal judge described as 'extraordinary'.

Justice V K Rajah, delivering the decision of the three-judge court, said serious doubts have been cast on the reliability of police statements in which Ismil Kadar, 42, admitted to committing the crime.

He said confessions had been obtained 'in troubling circumstances' and that it seemed it was more of the investigator deliberately breaching procedures than being merely careless.

In a strongly worded judgment, Justice Rajah also criticised the prosecution for not disclosing vital evidence to defence counsel until very late in the proceedings. These were three statements given by the bedridden husband of the woman, who had consistently said that he saw only one intruder in the flat.

The issue of how many assailants were present in the flat was a key issue that the case hinged on. Ismil and his younger brother Muhammad, 35, were convicted in 2009 of murdering Madam Tham Weng Kuen in her Boon Lay flat in May 2005 while robbing her. She was stabbed and slashed over 110 times.

In court, Ismil insisted he was not in the flat and challenged his confessions.

Muhammad initially fingered his brother for slashing the housewife but in a stunning turnaround during the trial, said he alone killed her and declared his older brother innocent.

However, prosecutors maintained that both men were in the flat -- a position that the appeal court on Tuesday said was 'more than farfetched'. Muhammad's appeal was dismissed and he remains sentenced to hang for murder. After the verdict, the two brothers shook hands briefly.