267:
Zanaria, who was then jailed at a drug rehabilitation center for drug addiction, appeared as a witness in
Ithinin's murder trial and testified that she was together with Ithinin inside the Tanglin Halt flat and spent the night with Ithinin and smoked heroin with him. Zanaria stated that when both Mohamed Johar and Mohd Said, as well as the duo's 23-year-old friend Zainuddin Sairi, confronted Ithinin, she was afraid that the trio would wallop her boyfriend due to her suspicion that Mohamed Johar was jealous of her new boyfriend. Zanaria testified that she saw Ithinin picking up a knife and she took it away from him, advising him to talk to them peacefully. Mohd Said later told Ithinin to change out of his sarong and challenged him to a fight, and the next thing Zanaria saw after Ithinin came back from the flat a second time was Ithinin stabbing Mohd Said twice before he went after Mohamed Johar and knifed him two times. An autopsy report showed that the stab wounds had penetrated the hearts and lungs of both Mohd Said and Mohamed Johar, and the severity of the wounds were such that they were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
292:
both
Mohamed Johar and Mohd Said out of anger over a small matter and he had acted out of proportion to the effect of the abusive words inflicted upon him. With regards to the verbal abuse Ithinin may have faced, the trial judges determined through the "reasonable man test" that for a person in the same position and same class of society as Ithinin, these common vulgar words would not have sufficiently or reasonably provoked a man to the extent of losing self-control and committing murder. Having rejected the defence of sudden and grave provocation, as well as finding that Ithinin had the intention to kill and/or cause the fatal wounds to Mohamed Johar and Mohd Said, the judges concluded that there were sufficient grounds to return a verdict of murder.
372:, who was charged with the double murder of her employer Angie Ng and Ng's daughter Crystal Poh. The trial judge M P H Rubin, who accepted Sundarti's defence of sudden and grave provocation, cited the Ithinin case and found that Sundarti, who was severely and maliciously abused and deprived of food by Ng, was indeed provoked and had lost her self-control, and therefore killed Ng and her daughter in a moment of uncontrollable rage, as a result of the frequent humiliation and cruelty she suffered from Ng's cold-blooded and relentless abuse, which would have reasonably become the straw that broke the camel's back for anyone in Sundarti's position. As a result, Sundarti was found not guilty of murder, and instead sentenced to
231:
Ahmad told police that the two deceased men had approached the boyfriend and a dispute erupted between the men, supposedly over a
Walkman. Afterwards, it evolved into a stabbing spree, in which the divorcee's boyfriend used a knife to fatally stab the two men before he fled from the flat. One of the neighbours, Alice Phua, told the press that she heard a woman screaming and shouts from several men, and saw one of the victims lying outside her flat in a pool of blood. Many other neighbours also heard the two men shouting while the killer was attacking them. The killer's girlfriend was said to be tending to her ex-boyfriend Mohamed Johar's wounds while he and Mohd Said were motionless and bled profusely from the stabbing.
329:- in 1993. The three judges found that Ithinin had failed in his defence of sudden and grave provocation, given that he had reacted grossly out of proportion to any supposed provocation inflicted upon him by the two victims. They also stated that Ithinin had inflicted lethal wounds on the vital parts of both Johar and Mohd Said's bodies, which was not justifiable, and was excessive violence for a person acting under a grave and sudden provocation. They also found that a reasonable man belonging to the same class of society as the appellant would not have normally become so angered to the extent of resorting to murder, and as such, the Court of Appeal upheld Ithinin's conviction and sentence, and dismissed his appeal.
280:
latter was
Zanaria's boyfriend and he only replied to them that he slept with Zanaria, which caused Mohamed Johar to shout expletives at him and told him to change his clothes, and Mohd Said similarly spewed the same vulgar words. After being kicked by the men after the abusive language, Ithinin became very angry and entered the flat to grab a knife, and stabbed both Mohamed Johar and Mohd Said. Overall, the defence summed up that due to the abusive language that caused Ithinin to lose his self-control and therefore led to the double murder, the defence of sudden and grave provocation should be accepted and that Ithinin should be convicted of manslaughter, which would have warranted the maximum sentence of
361:, a fishmonger charged with murdering his friend and fruit stall helper Tan Eng Yan. Lau claimed that he killed Tan in a moment of anger and loss of self-control due to Tan insulting his mother and threatening to kill him. However, the courts found that Lau's actions, in accordance to the Ithinin case and other precedent cases, were grossly out of proportion to the provocation given and the harm he caused was in excess of any danger Tan would have posed to him. Lau was
288:
men. Reddy stated that the reaction of
Ithinin and his acts of stabbing Mohd Said and Mohamed Johar were overly disproportionate to the provocation given, and Ithinin clearly did not lose his self-control, based on the fact that he had the presence of mind to arm himself with a knife and even packed his belongings quickly before fleeing the scene of the crime.
198:(29) - due to the two men, one of whom was his girlfriend's ex-lover, allegedly insulting him. Ithinin was arrested and charged for the double murder, and he claimed that the fatal stabbing was committed due to grave and sudden provocation from the victims. However, in January 1992, Ithinin was found guilty of murdering both Mohd Said and Mohamed Johar, and
349:'s case, which concerned the defence of sudden and grave provocation raised by Kwan, who was said to have murdered his girlfriend Phang Ai Looi after she refused to break up with another man and proclaimed she was much happier with the other man compared to Kwan. In this case, which ended with Kwan serving a life sentence for manslaughter, the
29:
353:
re-affirmed that based on the mental background of the accused and the "reasonable man test", the defence of sudden and grave provocation could still succeed if verbal remarks could result in one losing his self-control and killing the victim in a fit of uncontrollable anger, which the court accepted
266:
The trial court was told that prior to the
Tanglin Halt slayings, Ithinin's 25-year-old girlfriend, Zanaria Aziz, a divorcee with a child, was formerly in a relationship with one of the victim, Mohamed Johar, but she ultimately broke up with Mohamed Johar and became intimate with Ithinin thereafter.
270:
Zainuddin also appeared in court to testify against
Ithinin. Zainuddin said that Mohamed Johar invited him to go together with him and Mohd Said to confront Ithinin over a Walkman that Ithinin had allegedly taken from him, and he agreed to tag along with the two men. Zainuddin, who was then working
291:
On 9 January 1992, after a trial lasting three days, Justice T S Sinnathuray and
Judicial Commissioner Amarjeet Singh delivered their verdict. The two judges found that Ithinin's defence of grave and sudden provocation should not stand, given that Ithinin had inflicted multiple fatal injuries onto
287:
In rebuttal, Reddy argued that
Ithinin should be convicted of murder for the Tanglin Halt slayings, citing that generally, a person in Ithinin's position would not, in the face of similar verbal abuse from the victims, have become so angered to the extent of losing self-control and killing the two
275:
prior to
Ithinin coming out and stabbing them. According to Zainuddin, he told the court during the defence's cross-examination that Mohd Said had uttered "kurang ajar", which meant ill-mannered in Malay and sounded offensive. On re-examination, Zainuddin clarified that this phrase was often used
230:
According to 78-year-old Ahmad Saibon, who owned the flat, he was staying with his 31-year-old grandson and his two friends, one of whom was Mohamed Johar's 23-year-old ex-girlfriend (a divorcee), and the other was the divorcee's boyfriend (both of them were temporarily staying at Ahmad's house).
217:
The victims were identified as Mohamed Johar Selamat and Mohd Said Abdul Majid, who were friends. Mohamed Johar, a primary school drop-out who was 33 years old at the time of his death, was a technician with an offshore oil company and the second child out of seven in his family. He was due to be
279:
Ithinin gave his defence on the stand. His main defence was sudden and grave provocation, and that he killed both Mohamed Johar and Mohd Said in a moment of anger and loss of self-control. Ithinin testified that when he was confronted by both Mohd Said and Mohamed Johar, he did not know that the
234:
On 2 June 1989, the police apprehended the Tanglin Halt double killer for causing the deaths of Mohamed Johar and Mohd Said after they established his identity. The suspect, identified as a former seaman named Ithinin Kamari (aged 32), was charged with murder the following day.
344:
In the aftermath of Ithinin's trial and execution, his appeal became a precedent case study with regards to the defence of sudden and grave provocation. Ithinin's case and several others were mentioned again in 1998 in light of the landmark ruling of
271:
as a factory maintenance worker, said that Ithinin denied Mohamed Johar's accusation about whoever had taken Zanaria's belongings. Ithinin challenged Mohamed Johar to a fight and Mohd Said also spewed abusive language in
222:
oil tools company and the third child out of a family of nine, and he formerly studied at Tun Seri Lanang Secondary School. Mohamed Johar's family stated that he had plans to go to Tanglin Halt to retrieve a
971:
247:
for two counts of murdering Mohd Said Abdul Majid and Mohamed Johar Selamat. Ithinin was represented by R Yogendran, while the prosecution consisted of Shaifuddin Saruwan
1032:
905:
227:
from his ex-girlfriend, who was living in the flat where he was murdered, while Mohd Said's family believed he might have tagged along with Mohamed Johar.
1047:
1037:
1027:
938:
263:
if found guilty, and an accused on trial was not allowed to plead guilty to any charges pertaining to the death penalty under Singaporean law.
1042:
259:. Ithinin initially wanted to plead guilty to both charges of murder but his request was refused, as the offence of murder carried the
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960:
385:
362:
260:
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139:
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675:
477:
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295:
As a result, 35-year-old Ithinin Kamari was found guilty of both charges of murder, and sentenced to death by
750:
244:
930:
357:
Ithinin's case had an influence in several other murder cases. One of these cases was the 1999 trial of
252:
369:
218:
married in September of that same year. Mohd Said was a 29-year-old machinist employed by a
214:, which resulted in the deaths of two young men, and the killer fled the scene soon after.
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202:, due to his actions being grossly out of proportion to the provocation given.
248:
46:
798:"THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PROVOCATION AS A DEFENCE TO MURDER IN SINGAPORE"
797:
337:
After the loss of his appeal, Ithinin was hanged on an unknown date in
296:
224:
368:
The case of Ithinin was also referred to in the 2004 murder trial of
308:
219:
161:
150:
66:
318:
The appeal was dismissed by a panel of three appellate judges -
276:
among themselves whenever they met up and used drugs together.
210:
On 24 May 1989, a stabbing incident occurred outside a flat at
532:"Dua mayat berlumuran darah ditemui di luar flat Tanglin Halt"
33:
Mohamed Johar Selamat (left) and Mohd Said Abdul Majid (right)
694:"High Court rejects man's guilty plea to two murder charges"
251:
and David Khoo. The trial was presided over by two judges -
841:"WERE THEY PROVOKED?: How the court ruled in three cases"
712:"Accused: I was angered by kicks, push and verbal abuse"
315:
against his murder conviction and two death sentences.
859:"Man escapes gallows, gets life for killing ex-lover"
243:
On 6 January 1992, Ithinin Kamari stood trial at the
996:"Surprise verdict: Maid who killed boss gets life".
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146:
130:
122:
114:
106:
96:
88:
80:
72:
60:
52:
38:
21:
730:"Former seaman found guilty, gets death sentence"
307:After he was sentenced to hang, Ithinin filed an
550:"Police arrest suspect in Tanglin Halt murders"
658:"Lover of accused I saw him stab the victims"
16:1989 double murder at Tanglin Halt, Singapore
8:
18:
961:"Public Prosecutor v Sundarti Supriyanto"
365:, and he was hanged on 1 September 2000.
397:
1033:Singaporean people convicted of murder
781:Ithinin bin Kamari v Public Prosecutor
747:Public Prosecutor v Ithinin bin Kamari
877:"Man to hang for killing fruitseller"
7:
931:"True Files S1 E12 Murder for Coins"
604:"Tanglin Halt killings: Man charged"
376:for manslaughter in September 2004.
977:from the original on 29 August 2021
911:from the original on 14 March 2023
895:"Lau Lee Peng v Public Prosecutor"
325:, Justice Warren Khoo and Justice
14:
1048:Incidents of violence against men
941:from the original on 4 April 2023
622:"Hadapi tuduhan bunuh dua lelaki"
514:"Two killed after row over woman"
568:"Kes bunuh: Polis berkas lelaki"
118:Alleged rage due to verbal abuse
27:
1038:Capital punishment in Singapore
1028:Deaths by stabbing in Singapore
386:Capital punishment in Singapore
770:(in Chinese). 10 January 1992.
1:
682:(in Chinese). 6 January 1992.
646:(in Chinese). 7 January 1992.
430:(in Chinese). 9 January 1992.
182:On 24 May 1989, at a flat in
1043:Violence against men in Asia
255:Amarjeet Singh and Justice
22:Tanglin Halt double murders
1064:
592:(in Chinese). 5 June 1989.
484:(in Chinese). 25 May 1989.
466:(in Chinese). 25 May 1989.
448:(in Chinese). 24 May 1989.
412:(in Chinese). 3 June 1989.
284:or up to ten years' jail.
190:fatally stabbed two men -
102:Mohd Said Abdul Majid (29)
100:Mohamed Johar Selamat (33)
1023:1989 murders in Singapore
26:
968:Supreme Court judgements
764:"情敌和朋友上门争执中谋杀两人 失业汉被判死刑"
628:(in Malay). 6 June 1989.
574:(in Malay). 3 June 1989.
538:(in Malay). 25 May 1989.
496:"Murder over a Walkman?"
137:on both counts of murder
239:Trial of Ithinin Kamari
970:. 24 September 2004.
823:"When words can kill"
253:Judicial Commissioner
196:Mohd Said Abdul Majid
192:Mohamed Johar Selamat
1000:. 25 September 2004.
676:"不甘女友有新欢 带友找情敌双双遭刺死"
424:"一句粗话侮辱到母亲 杀死情敌被判死刑"
1018:Murder in Singapore
902:Singapore Law Watch
883:. 13 November 1999.
370:Sundarti Supriyanto
126:Ithinin Kamari (35)
110:Ithinin Kamari (35)
865:. 20 January 1998.
736:. 10 January 1992.
586:"东陵福双尸谋杀案警方捕一青年嫌犯"
406:"东陵福双尸命案 警获情报捕一男子"
363:sentenced to death
200:sentenced to death
140:Sentenced to death
998:The Straits Times
904:. 11 March 2000.
881:The Straits Times
863:The Straits Times
845:The Straits Times
827:The Straits Times
734:The Straits Times
718:. 9 January 1992.
716:The Straits Times
700:. 7 January 1992.
698:The Straits Times
664:. 8 January 1992.
662:The Straits Times
608:The Straits Times
554:The Straits Times
518:The Straits Times
460:"疑涉及桃色纠纷 两青年惨死刀下"
374:life imprisonment
282:life imprisonment
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847:. 29 March 1998.
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829:. 29 March 1998.
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640:"涉嫌谋杀两男子被告欲认罪被拒"
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354:in Kwan's case.
299:for each count.
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257:T S Sinnathuray
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610:. 7 June 1989.
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559:
556:. 3 June 1989.
541:
523:
520:. 25 May 1989.
505:
502:. 25 May 1989.
487:
469:
451:
442:"死亡约会 两青年 遭砍死"
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347:Kwan Cin Cheng
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206:Fatal stabbing
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188:Ithinin Kamari
186:, 32-year-old
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176:Amarjeet Singh
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142:on both counts
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768:Lianhe Zaobao
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680:Lianhe Wanbao
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626:Berita Harian
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500:The New Paper
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482:Lianhe Wanbao
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464:Lianhe Zaobao
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446:Lianhe Wanbao
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428:Lianhe Wanbao
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339:Changi Prison
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327:Chao Hick Tin
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323:Yong Pung How
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320:Chief Justice
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261:death penalty
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979:. Retrieved
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943:. Retrieved
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913:. Retrieved
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844:
835:
826:
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805:. Retrieved
801:
792:
787:(Singapore).
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753:(Singapore).
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359:Lau Lee Peng
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212:Tanglin Halt
209:
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184:Tanglin Halt
181:
43:Tanglin Halt
147:Convictions
107:Perpetrator
62:Attack type
56:24 May 1989
1012:Categories
751:High Court
392:References
249:Bala Reddy
245:High Court
478:"准新郎·刀下死"
333:Aftermath
194:(33) and
123:Convicted
47:Singapore
981:18 March
972:Archived
945:18 March
939:Archived
915:18 March
906:Archived
807:16 March
380:See also
39:Location
935:meWATCH
311:to the
297:hanging
225:Walkman
158:Charges
131:Verdict
97:Victims
89:Injured
73:Weapons
309:appeal
303:Appeal
220:Jurong
162:Murder
151:Murder
135:Guilty
115:Motive
81:Deaths
67:Murder
975:(PDF)
964:(PDF)
909:(PDF)
898:(PDF)
802:JSTOR
273:Malay
169:Judge
983:2024
947:2024
917:2024
809:2024
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660:.
642:.
624:.
606:.
588:.
570:.
552:.
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498:.
480:.
462:.
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