Even since Natalie Siow got sentenced for her involvement in the Orchard Towers murder case, netizens have been wondering: was the sentence too lenient? A life was lost and she got just five months in jail?
Some, of course, even attributed it to her looks, but it obviously wasn’t the case, because these people obviously didn’t read the news about what happened to the other people.
Today, there’s a new update, and you should be glad that you’re reading an article instead of a headline.
Man Involved in Orchard Towers Murder Walks Free With Conditional Warning
The entire case involved seven people: initially, all of them were charged for the murder of Mr Satheesh Noel Gobidass.
However, further investigations changed everything, and only one person would be charged with murder: Tan Sen Yang.
It turned out that three of the accused – Natalie Siow, Joel Tan Yun Sheng, and Ang Da Yuan – did not use any weapons, so their murder charge was reduced to assault. We should call this group of people Group A.
In Group A, Natalie was sentenced to 5 months’ imprisonment, Joel Tan was sentenced for four weeks’ imprisonment and Ang Da Yuan was sentenced to eight months’ jail and six strokes of the cane.
Another three, Tan Hong Sheng, Loo Boon Chong and Chan Jia Xing had their murder charge reduced to consorting with a person carrying an offensive weapon in a public place. We should call this group of people Group B. They didn’t assault anyone but…erm, just follow Group A and the “murderer”.
Here’s the thing: so far, only one person has been sentenced, and it’s Chan Jia Xing.
Today (15 October), Chan was given a conditional warning for a year.
If you’ve not been watching Preetipls’ videos and have no idea what that means, here’s a brief explanation: a conditional warning basically means that the convicted individual must remain crime-free for a certain period of time after it’s given.
If it’s broken, the individual could be charged for the original crime which resulted in the warning, as well as the new offences that he has committed.
However, the warning carries no criminal record.
In other words, Chan has had quite a rollercoaster ride—his murder charge was eventually reduced to…no criminal record.
Chan promised to remain crime-free not just for a year, but for “the rest of my life”.
His lawyer, Josephus Tan (yes, the one with long hair), said, “It’s been an arduous journey for him. He is now happily looking forward to the birth of his firstborn next month instead of having to serve time in prison for this very unfortunate tragedy.”
In the meantime, the verdict for the other people in Group B, and the only person who faces the murder charge, is still not out.