Verdict doesn’t heal our pain, says Kovan murder victims’ family
The elder Mr Tan’s children, Mr David Tan (left) and Ms Josephine Tan (right), and Mdm Ong’s brother Ong Boon Kok during a press conference at the Hillside Drive house today. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — When their mother does not pick up their calls these days, Mr Tan Chee Wee and his sister Josephine are instantly seized with worry that “some mishap” might have happened — a spectre of the day two years ago when their mother tried unsuccessfully to reach their older brother, after he had been killed by their father’s murderer.
The scars left in their lives were laid bare today (Dec 8), as the family of the murder victims spoke to the media for the first time after the culprit, former policeman Iskandar Rahmat, was sentenced to hang last Friday for the deaths of car workshop owner Tan Boon Sin and his son Chee Heong.
At a press conference held on the porch of the Hillside Drive house where the killings took place, Mr Tan said the wounds are still fresh for them, as children, grandchildren, siblings, wives and mother.
“A happy family has ... been broken in (a) split second and life has changed for us, totally. Although it’s been two years, to us, it’s (like) just two days. Every day, we’ve been repeating the same image,” he said. “We hope we have (only had) a bad dream every day when we wake up, but the reality is (it’s) not.”
On July 10, 2013, their mother had returned home to see an ambulance and the car of their elder brother parked outside. Calls to her son were not picked up, and Mdm Ong Ah Tang only discovered two hours later that her husband and son had been murdered in her home.
Iskandar, 36, who was holding the rank of Senior Staff Sergeant in the police force then, stabbed the father-and-son pair more than a dozen times each, in carrying out his plan to rob and then silence his victims to pay off a S$65,000 bank debt. After a nine-day trial, a High Court judge ruled that it was a relentless and cruel attack and convicted Iskandar under Section 300(a) of the Penal Code, the most severe form of murder that entails mandatory death.
The Tan family attended every hearing, including the sentencing.
The verdict was as they had expected, said Mr Tan, 41, today. “But it doesn’t heal our pain. My father and my brother left in this way. It’s really unacceptable. If someone is sick, they would at least have a chance to say their last words. But they were not even given a chance,” he said.
His father had trusted the police to investigate the theft from his safety deposit box in Certis CISCO. Yet, it was someone “using his power as a policeman” who tricked and murdered him, he said.
“(Iskandar’s) charged under (Section) 300(a). That’s the maximum. (But) actually if there’s (Section) 300(a)-plus, I think it should (apply) to him, too,” said Mr Tan.
Although the Hillside Drive house was the scene of the family tragedy, their mother, who chose to stay away from the press conference, still lives there on her own. “My mother’s ... been living here for so long. She’s accustomed to the lifestyle here, the neighbours, everything. If you just thrust her into another new environment, I don’t think it’s easy for an elderly woman to (get used to that),” said Ms Tan, 42. “Nothing interests her now ... For her, she can’t enjoy. Chinese New Year is the hardest time.”
Likewise, their sister-in-law is still “very down” emotionally, said Mr Tan.
Even his brother’s sons, aged 12 and 6, have been forced to grow up, said Ms Tan. They have learnt to study the adults’ expressions before deciding on topics to bring up, she added.
Summing up the changes in their family, Mdm Ong’s brother Boon Kok said: “The police commissioner said during the press conference (when Iskandar was arrested) that it’s a sad day for the police. But to my family, it’s a sad life. It’s lifelong.”
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