Thomson LP

This appellant was convicted in the High Court in Singapore on 10th October, 1963, on three charges of murder in contravention of section 302 of the Penal Code. He applied for leave to appeal against these convictions and for leave to call additional evidence. On 26th February, 1964, we granted him leave to call certain evidence as to the state of his mind. We then proceeded to treat his application for leave to appeal as an appeal and heard the evidence of Dr. Yap Meow Foo. In the event we set aside the three convictions for murder and substituted for them convictions for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in contravention of section 304 of the Penal Code and imposed a sentence of life imprisonment in respect of each such conviction. We stated that we would give our reasons for the course we took at a later stage and we now proceed to do so.

The facts of the case were never in any real dispute. The appellant and one Chenchal Singh had been employed as watchmen on a building estate in Singapore, but the appellant had ceased to be so employed though he continued to live on the estate. The two men were not friends and on the evening of 5th April, 1963, they