SINGAPORE, July 16 — In a drunken rage over an argument about unpaid salaries, an odd-job labourer fatally struck his colleague in the head and chest with a hammer.
Then, for three decades, Arumugam Vellasamy evaded the long arm of the law. During this time, the Malaysian even managed to cross the Causeway to Johor Baru and back a few times.
About a decade ago, technological advances in fingerprinting allowed police to identify him. But he was not arrested as his name was misspelt on his Singapore work permit, which led to a misspelling on the police gazette issued against him too.
He was only nabbed in 2016 when he crossed Woodlands Checkpoint to enter Singapore. It is unclear how the authorities managed to catch him this time.
Yesterday, Arumugam, now 61 and a grandfather of four, was finally dealt with in court. He was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Because he is above 50 years old, he cannot be caned.
In mitigation, Arumugam’s lawyer Siraj Shaik Aziz, who took his case pro bono, said that his client did not think the misspelling of his name was an issue, as he was Tamil-educated and “the phonetic difference did not bother him as much”.
The lawyer added that when Arumugam left the scene of the crime in 1986 to return to Johor Baru where he lived, the victim was still alive.
“It was not in his contemplation that he was in for culpable homicide until he was arrested,” said Siraj Shaik, who argued for eight years’ jail for his client.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Kelly Ho and Li Yihong sought at least nine years’ imprisonment instead.
They noted that while Arumugam’s victim was aggressive towards him, Arumugam had responded with a “brutal and unrelenting” attack that did not suggest he wanted to protect himself.
During sentencing, Justice Chan Seng Onn told him: “I hope that you will reflect on what you have done, and after you serve your prison sentence you can go back to your family.”
What happened
The court heard that the incident happened on August 28, 1986.
At the time, Arumugam was 28 years old and working odd jobs in Singapore. His victim was 43-year-old Muthiah Kutha Lingam, also a Malaysian, who was working as a construction worker here.
Muthiah had hired Arumugam on several occasions, but paid him S$10 at the end of each day instead of the agreed sum of S$45.
By that fateful day, he had owed Arumugam S$1,000.
At around 1.30pm, the two men went to the hut where Muthiah lived, at Lorong Kabong in the western region of Singapore.
When another of Muthiah’s workers — only identified as Mani — arrived, the three men then drank about four bottles of beer.
As they were able to start on the fifth bottle, Arumugam and Mani broached the issue of their unpaid salaries.
Muthiah got angry and questioned why they did not trust him, explaining that he was still waiting for his boss to pay him.
However, Arumugam countered that he did not believe that Muthiah could not afford to pay him, as he had seen Muthiah drinking beer all day on his free days.
During the argument, Muthiah slapped Arumugam once.
When Mani left the hut, Muthiah hurled vulgarities at Arumugam. They got into a scuffle, falling on the ground and hitting each other.
Arumugam then noticed a hammer on the ground, near some construction tools stacked against the wall, and picked it up.
After they got back on their feet, Arumugam swung the 1.1kg hammer at the other man and struck his head thrice. As Muthiah lay on the ground, Arumugam struck his chest twice.
As Muthiah lay there mumbling and groaning in pain, Arumugam quickly left the hut, took a taxi to Woodlands Checkpoint and crossed over to Johor Baru.
At about 7.30pm, another worker noticed that Muthiah’s door was left ajar, with the lights off and the radio playing loudly. He did a quick check, then told his supervisor what he had seen — that Muthiah was lying motionless on the ground, surrounded by bloodstains.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene about an hour later.
Arumugam was eventually arrested on September 6, 2016 when he entered Singapore through Woodlands Checkpoint.
For culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the 1970 Revised Edition of the Penal Code, he could have been jailed for life, or jailed up to 10 years and fined or caned. — TODAY
