by Alex Josey
His Lordship: I shan’t do that, Mr Coomaraswamy.
Mr Coomaraswamy: No, I have no doubt that your Lordship would not do that. But, nevertheless, I feel it necessary to state, if not for present purposes, at least for subsequent purposes, my Lord, that one does not call upon the accused to make his defence purely out of curiosity, or to know what it is he would say.
His Lordship: Come, come! You are wasting time, Mr Coomaraswamy, please. We are not here out of curiosity. We are here to try and do justice in a case where a man is on trial for his life. No one is curious. We are trying to perform a very onerous and responsible duty to the best of our ability.
Mr Coomaraswamy: The point I was making was this, my Lord: that the sense of ‘Let us find out what he has to say’ should not be a consideration in deciding whether or not to call upon the defence.
His Lordship: It does not enter my mind, Mr Coomaraswamy.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Now, as I said earlier, my Lord, we are going purely on assumptions, and I submit to your Lordship that there is no evidence that the accused committed this offence as to make it necessary for his defence to be called.
The judge did not trouble Mr Seow to rebut defence counsel’s submission. He said, “In my judgment there is evidence that the accused committed this offence. Whether the evidence in the eyes of the jury is acceptable or satisfactory and sufficient is entirely a matter for them, and I shall therefore call upon the accused to enter upon his defence.”
The judge addressed the accused, “Ang, now is the time for you to make your defence to this charge of murder. You can do it in any one of three ways. You can go into the witness-box and make it on oath, in which event you are liable to be cross-examined by the prosecution, asked questions by myself and members of the jury. You can remain in the dock and make an unsworn statement, in which event you are not liable and cannot be asked any questions at all. You can remain silent. Which of these three courses do you wish to adopt?”
“I elect to give my evidence on oath,” said the accused.
“Let him be sworn.”
Calm and confident, aware that all eyes in the court were upon him, knowing that he was making headlines in all the newspapers, Sunny Ang, who the prosecution said murdered a bar girl for the money to go to England to become a barrister, stepped into the witness-box to defend himself. He was asked by crown counsel to speak louder.
“Ang, try to keep your voice up,” said his Lordship. “It must carry right across to the jury. They are very interested to hear what you have to say.”
Ang said he could not remember exactly when he first met Jenny, but it was at the beginning of 1963. “We were on very friendly terms. I took her home frequently from her bar.”
To questions by his counsel on how the question of insurance cropped up, Ang said that Jenny had of her own accord asked him to describe the various types of policies available from the Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited. This led to her submitting a proposal form.
Ang said he first went out skin-diving with her a few days after meeting her early in 1963. “She could float around and that was about all. Subsequently she learnt to swim. She became a reasonably good swimmer,” he said, before they went scuba-diving. “She made amazing progress.”
On the second day of the defence (the ninth day of the trial), Mr Coomaraswamy asked Ang how his mother, Madam Yeo Bee Neo, came to be named beneficiary in the policies.
Sunny Ang: Jenny had wanted to make me the beneficiary, but I suggested my mother instead.
His Lordship: Why?
Sunny Ang: For a few reasons.
His Lordship: Let’s have them.
Sunny Ang: One of them is that this form would have to pass through Mr Sidney Kong (divisional manager of the Great Eastern and a friend of Ang), and I was afraid he would tease me about it if my name were on the form as a beneficiary. I was in the habit of having my other properties in my mother’s name.
His Lordship: What do your other properties consist of?
Sunny Ang: I have a car.
His Lordship: In your mother’s name?
Sunny Ang: Yes, and the financial aspect of the poultry farm is also in my mother’s name. Also a few shares.
His Lordship: Also shares?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
His Lordship: Is that because you are a bankrupt?
Sunny Ang: Yes, my Lord.
After giving his version of how Jenny came to take out the insurance policies, Sunny Ang told defence counsel about the car accident. He then went on to give evidence about scuba-diving with Jenny. He said that before 27 August 1963, he had definitely been out ‘at least’ once with her on a scuba-diving expedition in the Pulau Dua Straits. This was on a Sunday—two days before her disappearance. He said the boatman was Yusuf. (Yusuf on oath denied this.)
Sunny Ang: Both Jenny and I dived. We saw some good coral specimens. We went down two or three times, a total of an hour. I took the trouble of roughly marking up that spot with the aid of the visual eye in relation to trees and other points of the two islands.
He said that on the morning of 27 August, he went to the offices of the American International Underwriters to extend a policy, a personal accident policy on Jenny.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Why did you extend Jenny’s policy?
Sunny Ang: Because we might have to drive back the car from Seremban, if it was ready, and the prospect of having to do that made her insist upon extending the policy.
His Lordship: Why not leave her behind?
Sunny Ang: Well, if the car was ready, we would look around. We would go to Malacca and then back to Singapore. I just wanted to take her along with me—that’s all.
His Lordship: I want to be fair: I thought you told us she disliked to be driven at all after the accident at Seremban?
Sunny Ang: I insisted on taking her along.
He told Mr Coomaraswamy that “we intended that afternoon to collect the coral we had seen the previous Sunday at Pulau Dua. We intended to go diving at high tide.”
Mr Coomaraswamy: Why did you fix high tide?
Sunny Ang: Because, from experience, there was little or no current at beaches I have been to at high tide. On the Sunday I went with Jenny there was a slight current.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Where did you anchor?
Sunny ang: We took the trouble to be over the spot where we were over the previous Sunday, according to the land marks I mentioned just now. The water was calm.
Ang said that he helped Jenny with her equipment. She put on the green flippers.
Mr Coomaraswamy: You then released the air supply to the regulator? You turned it on?
Sunny Ang: I turned on the tap on the tank.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Why did you do it and not Jenny?
Sunny Ang: No particular reason. I was behind her and I did it for her.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did she then jump into the water?
Sunny Ang: Yes, near the guide line.
His Lordship: At that time had you taken off your clothes?
Sunny Ang: I was in my bathing costume.
His Lordship: And you had done nothing about your own equipment?
Sunny Ang: I think I was getting my own equipment ready.
His Lordship: But you couldn’t be doing both at the same time could you? You have told us that you assisted Jenny with her equipment. By that time had you done anything about your own equipment? You could not be doing both at the same time.
Sunny Ang: No. On the way in the boat I had the equipment ready, you see, and I was just starting to get my own equipment ready when we anchored.
He said that when Jenny surfaced she said they were not exactly over the spot they had marked out that day, but there were equally good coral where they were. Ang told the judge that Jenny got back into the boat and they chatted for 20 minutes to half an hour, during which time he got back to fixing the tanks.
His Lordship: You were not in a hurry to join her in the next jump apparently?
Sunny Ang: Neither
was she. What I mean is we both got ready eventually at the same time. In fact we had both gotten ready and she was about to go down when she told me there was not enough air left in her tank. So I had to undo everything all over again.
He changed her tank, turned on the valve and Jenny dived into the water.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Why did she go in first?
Sunny Ang: It’s more or less a matter of courtesy.
His Lordship: That she should brave the perils of the deep before you?
Sunny Ang: Not exactly, my Lord, but always ladies first.
His Lordship: I see, even in deep waters?
Sunny Ang: Immediately she went down I tried to open the air valve in my own tank. It was rather awkward. I asked Yusuf to do it for me. He did, but there was a loud rush of air. So I asked him to turn it off immediately.
Together they took off the tank. “I soon discovered that the cause was that the washer that should have been between the regulator and the tank was missing.” He tried to improvise a washer, and so did Yusuf, but was unsuccessful. He tried to make use of the washer in the first tank Jenny used but damaged it and that was unusable.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did you have any reason to think that Jenny would have surfaced by now?
Sunny Ang: No. What I mean is normally she is a patient girl. I thought she would have waited for me down there.
His Lordship: How long did you think she would have waited?
Sunny Ang: Ten to 15 minutes.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did you have any arrangement with her to wait for you?
Sunny Ang: No. Before she jumped I told her she could go down first and I would follow immediately.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did you become anxious?
Sunny Ang: Not immediately. When I realized I could not go down because of the missing washer, I signalled her to surface. I assumed she might be at the other end of the guide line.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did you have any pre-arranged signal?
Sunny Ang: Yes. Three jerks meant come up.
Two minutes later, when she had not surfaced, and while he was still attending to his tank, he again pulled on the guide line. “I noticed there were no air bubbles breaking on the surface of the water.”
Mr Coomaraswamy: What did you do?
Sunny Ang: I was not alarmed. I thought she might have got tired of waiting for me and may have wandered off on her own. So I looked around and could not see any air bubbles. I then asked Yusuf to look around too.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did either of you see any air bubbles?
Sunny Ang: We did not.
Mr Coomaraswamy: What did you do then?
Sunny Ang: My reaction was not one of alarm.
His Lordship: What was your reaction?
Sunny Ang: That she might have been playing with me; that is she might have been directly under the boat when the bubbles would not have been noticed; or she might have swum to and landed on one of the islands.
His Lordship: One of the Sisters Islands?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
His Lordship: You seriously thought that at that time?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
His Lordship: Do you still think so?
Sunny Ang: I don’t think so.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did you come to realize that day that an emergency existed?
Sunny Ang: Yes, I looked under the boat on both sides but I could not see any bubbles at all, and both Yusuf and myself scanned both the islands for traces of footsteps or any other signs that would show that she had landed but we found none. It was about that stage I realized she had gotten into trouble.
His Lordship: I would prefer the word ‘got’ to ‘gotten’.
Mr Coomaraswamy: What did you do then?
Sunny Ang: I then asked Yusuf what could be done. I vaguely remembered there was a telephone on St John’s. He confirmed this and we decided to go to St John’s to ring up for help.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did you at any time ask Yusuf to go faster?
Sunny Ang: No, I did not.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Why not?
Sunny Ang: Because the boat went as fast as it could.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Yusuf says that you were normal at that time. Could that be a correct description?
Sunny Ang: I was alarmed. But there was no outward expression of it.
Mr Coomaraswamy: He also said that at one time you were weeping, and further he said he saw tears in your eyes. Would that be correct?
Sunny Ang: Water came out from my eyes, but there was no particular sign.
His Lordship: He is saying the truth or what?
Sunny Ang: I may have shed tears without consciously knowing it.
On the jetty at St John’s Island he met Jaffar bin Hussein, and told him what had happened, and he went to the telephone. He remembered running, but not whether it was to the telephone or back to the jetty. The judge asked, “Either coming or going?”
“That is so,” said Sunny Ang.
Asked about the disappearance of Jenny’s first tank while the Malay divers were searching for Jenny, Ang told the Court, “I gave a casual demonstration. I had forgotten that the tank was ... I was under the impression that tanks are buoyant.”
His Lordship: You have forgotten what?
Sunny Ang: I was under the impression that tanks would float regardless whether they were full or empty.
His Lordship: The tank sank?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Did this happen in the straits between the two islands?
Sunny Ang: Yes, more or less over the spot where Jenny disappeared.
Mr Coomaraswamy: Why did you not dive into the water?
Sunny Ang: With the Malay fishermen?
Mr Coomaraswamy: Yes.
His Lordship: Any time after you pulled the rope?
Sunny Ang: The main reason was her air bubbles could not be located. She would be under where air bubbles were ... I presumed she was nowhere around. So there was no point in diving. There were other vague and hazy reasons which crossed my mind, but they were not important.
His Lordship: Other reasons?
Sunny Ang: She might have been attacked by sharks. I think that is about all.
Defence counsel went on to ask him why he wrote three letters to the insurance companies the next afternoon. Ang explained that it was necessary in accident policies that notification should be given to the companies. “Any time limit?” asked the judge.
“No.” Ang replied.
In the afternoon, when the trial continued, defence counsel asked Ang if he had cut the green flippers Jenny had used. “No, I did not cut them,” said Sunny Ang.
The next question came from crown counsel. “Do you,” he asked Ang, “describe yourself as a truthful person?” The battle of wits which Ang had purposely sought by going into the witness-box, with the representative of the State, the people, had begun. Calm and at ease, Sunny Ang replied, “Normally I tell the truth. Sometimes I do tell white lies.”