Galing Kujat
Galing Anak Kujat is a convicted robber and a native Malaysian of Iban descent who came from Sarawak, Malaysia. He was best known to be the accomplice of Kho Jabing, a convicted murderer who also came from Malaysia and was known for his years-long battle against the death penalty in Singapore. Galing and Kho were both involved in the 2008 robbery and murder of mainland Chinese national and construction worker Cao Ruyin in Singapore. Initially facing a murder charge and possible execution, Galing was eventually imprisoned and jailed for robbery with hurt.
Kho Jabing, on the other hand, lost his appeal against his sentence in 2011, and his clemency petition also failed. Kho's sentence however, was commuted to a life sentence with 24 strokes of caning after Singapore's death penalty laws undergone a reform in 2013. After the prosecution successfully appealed for a new death sentence for Kho, he was eventually executed in 2016. The prosecution's appeal had also led to some main guidelines being set for the imposition of the death penalty for murder with no intention to kill, making Kho Jabing's case a landmark case in Singapore's legal history.
Despite receiving less attention compared to his accomplice, Galing still played a role in Kho's case, and was one of the factors that led to the respective outcomes of the appeals related to Kho's case, which indirectly had an effect on Kho's fate, and on a large scale, the implementation of the guiding principles of the discretionary death penalty applied for murder cases in Singapore since the law's reforms in 2013.
Early life
Galing Anak Kujat was born sometime in 1983, and he was born and raised in Sarawak, Malaysia.Nothing is known about Galing's early life and childhood before he came to Singapore to work. It is possible that like thousands of foreigners before him, Galing came to Singapore to earn a better income to provide a better life for himself and his family, and possibly to settle in Singapore.
Murder of Cao Ruyin
On the afternoon of 17 February 2008, Galing Anak Kujat, who was then employed to load ships in a shipyard in Singapore, together with his friend Kho Jabing, an employee of a rag and bone company, and their three friends and compatriots from Sarawak planned to rob two Bangladeshi construction workers from the workplace of one of their three friends in Tiong Bahru. However, before the robbery plan could be executed, the two workers had left with their boss. The five remained in Tiong Bahru for drinks.After that, at about 7 pm, the five men went to Geylang for more drinks. During the trip, they had an argument over whether they should commit robbery in Geylang in view of their aborted robbery attempt earlier that day. Later on, Kho and Galing left the group. They walked together for a while before noticing two mainland Chinese men walking along a pathway in an open space near Geylang Drive. The men thus decided to rob the pair.
The two mainland Chinese men - mainland Chinese nationals and construction workers Cao Ruyin and Wu Jun - were walking together in that same area after dinner when they were unknowingly targeted by the two Sarawakians. Kho picked up a fallen tree branch, and used it to hit one of the men, Cao, from behind. As Kho began to assault Cao, Galing joined in by using his belt to hit Cao after failing to catch up with Wu, who escaped to contact the police. The assault eventually stopped and the pair also took away Cao's mobile phone.
From the attack, Cao suffered from 14 skull fractures, which also caused injuries to the brain. Cao was subsequently rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where doctors operated on him twice to treat his head injuries, but despite the efforts of the doctors, Cao did not recover from these injuries and slipped into a coma. Six days later, on 23 February 2008, 40-year-old Cao Ruyin died. After Cao's death, forensic pathologist Teo Eng Swee conducted an autopsy on the deceased construction worker, and Teo later certified that it was the severe head injuries that killed him.
Trial and sentencing
Capture of Kho Jabing and Galing Anak Kujat
After robbing Cao Ruyin and Wu Jun, Kho Jabing and Galing Kujat regrouped with their three friends and they together sold Cao's mobile phone for S$300. The five men used some of the proceeds to pay for their drinks and food while dividing the rest between themselves. Nine days later, police investigations led to the arrests of both Kho and Galing on 26 February 2008. They were all indicted and remanded for murder, which carries the mandatory death penalty under Singapore law at that time.Subsequently, their three friends are also arrested for the attempted robbery of the Bangladeshi workers. The trio were all sent to jail with caning some time before both Kho and Galing stood trial for murder.
There is nothing known about how Galing's family reacted to his arrest or involvement in the brutal robbery-murder of Cao Ruyin.
High Court murder trial
The trial of Kho Jabing and Galing Anak Kujat began in July 2009. Galing was represented by lawyers Chandra Mohan s/o K Nair and Chia Soo Michael, while Kho was represented by lawyers Johan Ismail and Zaminder Singh Gill, while the prosecution consisted of Deputy Public Prosecutors Leong Wing Tuck and Gordon Oh of the Attorney-General's Chambers. The case was heard before Justice Kan Ting Chiu in the High Court.Dr Teo Eng Swee, the pathologist who performed an autopsy on the victim Cao Ruyin and released a medical report, told the court that he believed that the skull fractures on Cao was caused by at least 5 blows or more, and one of these were possibly caused by either a blow or a fall on the back of the head. He added that the first few fractures were caused with severe force, and the subsequent ones resulted from less severe impacts on the head. When presented with Galing's belt buckle by the prosecution as a possible weapon used to cause the injuries, Dr Teo could not make any conclusions, but he confirmed from Galing's account that the tree branch which Kho used to hit Cao was capable enough to cause the fractures on Cao's skull. When cross-examined by Kho's lawyer over the possibility of a fall might cause the fractures, Dr Teo noted that he could not rule out that the fracture as being due to a fall, but the injuries were generally due to blunt force. When re-examined by the prosecution, Dr Teo confirmed that a fall could not cause all the injuries sustained by Cao.
Cao's companion Wu Jun also testified how he was attacked by Galing and how he managed to escape and call the police, but he could not tell the court how his friend was attacked, whether himself or Cao was attacked first, or who attacked the deceased.
Both men elected to go to the stand to put up their defence and have their statements admitted as evidence. Kho told the court that he only struck the deceased with the tree branch twice, but he claimed he did not know the force exerted or where he aimed at; the prosecution later indicated that he said so in his police statements that he hit the victim on the head twice. Other than that, Kho insisted that he only intend to rob but not to kill Cao Ruyin, stating that he felt deep remorse for causing the death of the victim. Kho also added that during the attack, he was intoxicated as a result of consuming too much alcohol earlier on before he robbed and assaulted Cao.
Similar to his accomplice, Galing also claimed no intention to commit murder. His account, however, differed from his police statements; he initially told police he saw Kho hitting the victim several times and so hard that the skull cracked, but at the trial, he insisted that Kho hit the victim only once. The police officers interrogating Galing were later called to the stand and cross-examined by Galing's lawyers over the alleged inaccuracy of the statements. The officers maintained that they did not record the statements incorrectly.
Verdict
The trial ended on 30 July 2010, around two years and five months after Cao's death. Justice Kan Ting Chiu found both Kho Jabing and Galing Kujat guilty of murder and sentenced both of them to death by long drop hanging.In his judgement, Justice Kan determined that both Kho and Galing shared a common intention to commit robbery. He also determined that Kho's actions of causing the injuries on the deceased victim was in the furtherance of the common intention of the pair to rob the victim and his friend, and that the injuries he intentionally caused were in the ordinary cause of nature to cause death, which constitutes an offence of murder committed under section 300 of the Penal Code. He also reject Kho's claim of alcohol intoxication as he cited that Kho was able to clearly recount the events that took place, showing full control of his faculties at the time.
Justice Kan stated that Galing's participation in the robbery was an indication of him knowing that his accomplice's actions were likely to cause death and thus he also has to bear that same responsibility as Kho and thus he also convict Galing of murder in lieu of both their common intention, and sentence him to death together with Kho.
Appeal and incarceration
After their conviction and sentencing, both Kho and Galing jointly filed an appeal against their conviction and sentence. For the appeal process, one of Kho's original lawyers Johan Ismail was replaced by James Bahadur Masih, and Zaminder Singh Gill remained as Kho's defence lawyer. For Galing, his original defence counsel was completely replaced by lawyers N Kanagavijayan and Gloria James to help him in his appeal. DPP Gordon Oh remained in the prosecuting team while his partner Leong Wing Tuck was replaced by DPP Lee Lit Cheng from the AGC. Both men's appeals were heard before Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong and two Judges of Appeal V. K. Rajah and Andrew Phang in the Court of Appeal.On 24 May 2011, the Court of Appeal released their judgement, and Justice Rajah delivered the verdict. Coming to the appeal of Galing Kujat, the Court of Appeal disagreed with Justice Kan's decision to convict Galing of murder. They agreed that Galing did share a common intention with Kho to commit robbery and cause hurt, but not to intentionally cause any lethal injuries on the victim. They also added that there was no evidence to show the type of injury inflicted by Galing on Cao, no evidence on any discussion or planning, and also no evidence of Galing making any moves to make Kho to assault Cao more easily to cause him to sustain fatal skull fractures and death.
Therefore, the Court of Appeal found Galing not guilty of murder and set aside his death sentence. Instead, they convicted him of a lower charge of robbery with hurt under section 394 of the Penal Code, and ordered that his case was to be remitted to the original trial judge for re-sentencing. The conviction for robbery with hurt means that Galing was no longer liable to the death penalty, but to a fixed term of imprisonment ranging between 5 and 20 years, and caning with not less than 12 strokes of the cane.
For his part in the robbery of the Chinese nationals, Justice Kan re-sentenced Galing to 18 years and six months' imprisonment and 19 strokes of the cane on an unspecified date before Justice Kan's retirement on 27 August 2011. The outcome of Galing's re-sentencing went unreported, but this information was revealed in subsequent court documents and news articles covering Kho Jabing's murder case from 2013 onwards.
However, for Kho's appeal, the three judges dismissed his appeal and upheld both his conviction and sentence. Chan stated that they were of the opinion that Kan was correct to convict Kho of murder as they agreed that Kho did intentionally cause the fatal injuries on Cao, which were sufficient to cause death even if he had no intent to kill the victim. They also agreed that from the review of evidence presented at the original trial, Kho had demonstrated a considerable amount of violence by inflicting several severe blows on the victim. This outcome left only Kho Jabing to hang for Cao Ruyin's murder while Galing managed to escape with his life. Kho had also petitioned to the President of Singapore for clemency, but it was rejected.
If Galing maintains good behaviour while serving his sentence in prison, he would be released on one-third remission after serving at least two-thirds of his sentence. Assuming that he was eligible for early release, Galing's possible release date would be between mid-2020 to late-2023, depending on when he started to serve his sentence.
It is not known if Galing appealed against his new sentence.