by Alex Josey
He agreed that Sidney Kong was a close friend, a confidante, a sort of adviser, with whom he had discussed the compromise plan to settle for half the amount of one of the claims. Ang said he was going to lend him $50,000 from the insurance money to invest in a housing enterprise in the United Kingdom. (Kong left Singapore a week after Ang’s arrest.)
Mr Francis Seow: I suggest to you that this $50,000 is his cut of the proceeds?
Sunny Ang: He was going to pay me interest of $500 a month.
Crown counsel questioned Sunny Ang in detail about the car accident near Seremban. He said that when they got back to Singapore he had $3. He gave Jenny $1 to see a doctor, and $1 for a taxi. The last dollar he spent on a bus to go home.
His Lordship: Tell me, were you in love with Jenny?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
His Lordship: Did you intend to marry her?
Sunny Ang: Well, it was more a tacit than an expressed understanding.
His Lordship: Did you intend to marry her?
Sunny Ang: Yes, my Lord.
Mr Francis Seow: Do you know that Jenny’s education was only of Standard Three level?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: She was not a particularly bright girl, was she?
Sunny Ang: Oh, she was.
Mr Francis Seow: Very bright?
Sunny Ang: Not very bright. But she learned things fast.
Mr Francis Seow: Under your expert tuition?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: Would you describe her as somewhat naïve?
Sunny Ang: No, I wouldn’t.
Mr Francis Seow: Simple?
Sunny Ang: She was simple. But not naïve.
His Lordship: What do you understand by ‘naïve’?
Sunny Ang: Well, sort of believing everything she is told.
Mr Francis Seow: Impressionable?
Sunny Ang: No, she had a mind of her own.
Mr Francis Seow: She trusted you?
Sunny Ang: No, she did not.
His Lordship: You intended to marry her, but you say she did not trust you?
Sunny Ang: She did not trust me, well, in my driving.
Mr Francis Seow: We are not talking about trusting you in your driving.
Sunny Ang: And also about going out with other women.
Mr Francis Seow: Apart from that she trusted you, in your good faith, in your integrity?
Sunny Ang: I don’t know about that.
His Lordship: You don’t know?
Sunny Ang: She could be suspicious at times.
His Lordship: With justification?
Sunny Ang: With justification.
Mr Francis Seow: Your mother, Madam Yeo Bee Neo, dotes on you, doesn’t she?
Sunny Ang: She loves me as a mother loves her son.
Mr Francis Seow: When her name was put in as beneficiary in the Great Eastern Life Assurance application form, Jenny had not yet met your mother?
Sunny Ang: No.
Mr Francis Seow: And your mother was unaware of the fact that she had been named as Jenny’s beneficiary?
Sunny Ang: She was unaware.
Mr Francis Seow: In actual fact you were the real beneficiary?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Ang gave evidence that Jenny, sometime in July 1963, met his mother at 8 Karikal Lane. “You can’t call it a natural meeting. My mother was in the kitchen, cooking and Jenny was outside in the sitting room. And just as we got to the door I did call out to my mother and I said, ‘Mum, this is Jenny Cheok.’”
His Lordship: That was all?
Sunny Ang: I think Jenny smiled at my mother and I think my mother said, ‘Hullo’. That was all.
His Lordship: So they had never really met at all? That could hardly be described as a substantial meeting: it was merely a passing greeting, a nod and a smile. And that was the only time they ever met?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Ang agreed with crown counsel that it was untrue to describe Jenny on the form as a close friend of his mother.
Mr Francis Seow: Is that the only occasion you departed from the truth?
Sunny Ang: I did not depart from the truth. (His friend Sidney Kong actually wrote the words on the form.)
Mr Francis Seow: But you were party to an untruth?
Sunny Ang: Well, yes, but here again ... may I say something?
His Lordship: Yes, indeed.
Sunny Ang: The primary purpose of agents, or even divisional managers, in an insurance company is to effect business and I may say with all sincerity that many untruths and misrepresentations occur in filling up application forms.
His Lordship: Well, I should think insurance companies would be shocked, because insurance companies work on the principle of the utmost good faith.
Sunny Ang: I know that.
His Lordship: But you say that it is more honoured in the breach than in the observance?
Sunny Ang: Yes, it is a common practice among insurance companies.
Asked to confirm that Jenny had been inside his home only once, Ang at first agreed, and then remembered she had been there on another occasion but had not met his mother.
His Lordship: You told me a minute ago you were quite sure it was only the one occasion. Now you say a second occasion.
Sunny Ang: I just remembered.
His Lordship: Well now, is that absolutely final? Only twice? Or are you going to think of another one in another minute?
Sunny Ang: My Lord, with all respects, I do not like such insinuations.
His Lordship: Just answer the questions. You have already said only one. I am asking you: is that all, or are you going to remember another one later on?
Sunny Ang: No.
Mr Francis Seow: If Jenny were suddenly to die after having effected any insurance policy, and if your name had been put down as beneficiary, do you agree you would have been the first suspect?
Sunny Ang: Suspected of what?
Mr Francis Seow: Of her murder, her death?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: If your mother’s name had been on it there would be less suspicion?
Sunny Ang: Worse—more suspicion.
His Lordship: On you?
Sunny Ang: Even more on me.
Mr Francis Seow: Why do you say that?
Sunny Ang: Well, it was an obviously—how shall I say?
His Lordship: Palpable ruse?
Sunny Ang: Let us say it was a cheap attempt to try to divert—
His Lordship: What I am saying is that it could be looked upon as a palpable ruse to switch the suspicion on you—that is what you are trying to say?
Sunny Ang: That is right.
Mr Francis Seow: Your mother is very ambitious for you?
Sunny Ang: No.
His Lordship: What an unusual mother! I thought mothers were always ambitious for their children. Doesn’t your mother want you to get on?
Sunny Ang: Well, it depends upon the degree of ambition.
His Lordship: Isn’t she ambitious for your future?
Sunny Ang: She is not ambitious for me. She wants me to settle down.
Mr Francis Seow: Well, are you ambitious?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: You want to get on?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: You want to be a barrister-at-law?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: Among other things?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: Are you a student of the University of Singapore?
Sunny Ang: No.
His Lordship: Have you ever been?
Sunny Ang: No.
Mr Francis Seow: Have you ever sat for the entrance examination?
Sunny Ang: No.
Mr Francis Seow: And if you were to say you had, that would be untrue?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: In December 1964, did you tell the Under Treasurer of Gray’s Inn in a letter that you are a student at the University of Singapor
e?
Sunny Ang: I can’t remember.
His Lordship: Can’t remember! Wait a moment. You first of all said you never were. Now you say you can’t remember whether you said to the Under Treasurer at Gray’s Inn that you were a student in the University of Singapore.
Sunny Ang: I can’t remember whether I wrote to Gray’s Inn at all.
His Lordship: Possibly your memory may be refreshed? (Hands Ang a letter.)
Mr Francis Seow: Is that your letter?
Sunny Ang: It is my letter. But it was never sent.
Mr Francis Seow: Are you quite sure you never sent it?
Sunny Ang: I can’t remember if I sent it. I never mailed it. The letter is torn here. I couldn’t have sent a torn letter.
His Lordship: It could have been torn on its return, or while it was in England, if it were ever sent. Is that possible?
Sunny Ang: That is quite possible, but I couldn’t have.
Mr Francis Seow: Will you please look at that letter and see the postal cancellation marks, the traces, on it?
His Lordship: Have a good look Ang, please. And take your time. Answer the question and let the answer be right. (Ang is shown the letter.) Did you send it?
Sunny Ang: I must have.
Justice Buttrose read the letter, which was signed by Sunny Ang: it was addressed to the Under Treasurer, Gray’s Inn, London WC1.
Dear Sir,
I am a student at the University of Singapore but I intend to join Gray’s Inn next year. My admission to the University of Singapore was gained not through obtaining a Higher School Certificate but through passing their University Entrance Examination. However I possess a School Certificate Grade 1 with distinctions in English and Science. I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me if I am eligible as a scholar with Gray’s Inn. Thanking you, I am,
Yours faithfully,
[sgd] S. Ang
Sunny Ang: May I explain?
His Lordship: Yes, indeed you may.
Sunny Ang: I wrote the letter because I wanted to find out if
there was any way of getting into Gray’s Inn without having two Principal Level subjects as advanced subjects. And I
wanted to find out if, being a student at the University, and having passed the Entrance Examination, which I believe would be easier to do than to take the Higher School Certificate. Join the university for a few months and then qualify myself to —
His Lordship: Yes, Ang, I accept all that. But the thing that the jury and I are interested in is: do you think that is a good way to start your entrance into Gray’s Inn, by writing to the Under Treasurer and telling him things that are not true? Do you think that is a good way to start your legal career?
Sunny Ang: No, my Lord, but only I did it with the best of intentions. I had to present them with my qualification eventually, so there is no point in lying to them. I did intend to take the Entrance Examination.
His Lordship: Supposing you did not succeed in passing, but failed: they still have your letter saying not only that you were a student at the University, but that you passed an examination you have not even sat for?
Mr Francis Seow: That is the only time you departed from the truth?
His Lordship: That is repetition, and we are wasting time.
Ang, by now, had firmly established himself as a man not to be believed. He admitted sending another letter stating he was, in 1964, a licenced commercial pilot, when in fact he was not.
Shown another entry in his 1964 diary, Ang wrote, ‘the police are damn sure she was murdered, i.e. she is dead’. He was asked by crown counsel if he wrote that.
His Lordship: That is in your handwriting and you made that entry?
Sunny Ang: Yes. (He smiles.)
His Lordship: You seem to be amused. Is it funny?
Sunny Ang: I have my reasons.
His Lordship: Perhaps. We shall investigate that in a moment.
Mr Francis Seow: Is she dead?
Sunny Ang: Yes, to me she is dead.
His Lordship: That is a matter for the jury and not for this witness.
Giving evidence about the chicken farm, which Ang said he had sold to Jenny (he said she had made two payments, one of $500 and another of $1,500, the remaining $8,000 to be paid out of profits), Sunny Ang said they did not intend to get married for five years. He agreed that Jenny had no experience in running a chicken farm.
Shortly after lunch on the third day of the defence, the 10th day of the trial, crown counsel cross-examined him about the fateful Tuesday afternoon. Ang said he knew it would take at least half an hour for the sampan to get to St John’s Island, and half an hour to get back. “Time was of the essence if this girl is to be rescued?” asked Mr Francis Seow. “Yes,” said Sunny Ang.
Asked why he did not use Jenny’s tank to dive down to search for her, he said it did not occur to him.
His Lordship: Why not?
Sunny Ang: If she had been anywhere round the boat I would have seen her air bubbles.
His Lordship: Did you realize that this girl, whom you love and whom you were going to marry, had gone down and disappeared, and you calmly turn round to the boatman and said, ‘All right. Go to St John’s’?
Sunny Ang: If she was anywhere around the boat we would have seen her air bubbles.
His Lordship: It didn’t occur to you to go down and search for her?
Sunny Ang: No.
His Lordship: Why?
Sunny Ang: Because I thought there was obviously a leak and also if she was anywhere around the boat we would have seen her air bubbles.
Mr Francis Seow: But the point remains that the Sealion tank of Jenny in the boat could have been used if you had used it?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: And it had seven minutes of air or more?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: And your answer is: ‘It never occurred to me’?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: You had skin-diving equipment with you in the boat?
Sunny Ang: Yes.
Mr Francis Seow: The girl you were going to marry was obviously in difficulty, if not actually dead already. Why didn’t you use your skin-diving equipment to go down?