2010 Kallang Slashings


The 2010 Kallang slashings were a series of robberies committed by a group of eight Malaysians from Sarawak, Malaysia in the night of 29 May 2010 and the early hours of the morning of 30 May 2010, mostly around Kallang Area. In the robberies, there were a total of five victims – the first four victims were seriously injured and hospitalised while a fifth victim was killed. Three of the perpetrators were charged with murder, four with gang robbery and the final culprit remains on the run for seven years before being arrested and charged with murder. Eventually, two were convicted of murder while the other six were dealt with varied jail terms and caning for multiple charges of armed robbery with hurt, gang robbery and attempted robbery.

Background

The robberies

On the night of 29 May 2010, a 47-year-old Chinese national and construction worker Wang Jiu Sheng was talking on his mobile phone while squatting on a pavement under a MRT track near Lorong 17, Geylang. During the phone call, Wang was set upon by a group of eight robbers who hit him on the head with a brick and slashed him with a parang and snatched his mobile phone. During the attack, Wang suffered a deep cut of four fingers on his left hand, which he raised to defend himself.
This would be the first robbery committed by the eight, who agreed to commit robbery earlier on after some drinks in their rented room in Geylang.
Later on, during the early hours of 30 May 2010, four out of the eight robbers went to Kallang Area to look for targets to rob. There, the group of four's first target was 24-year-old construction worker Sandeep Singh. When he was chatting with family members from India on his phone while sitting on a rocking horse in the playground, Sandeep was hit on the head from behind by one of the attackers, 31-year-old Sarawakian Tony Anak Imba, with a brick. Sandeep was also slashed with a parang by another robber by the name of Micheal Anak Garing. Sandeep was robbed of his moblie phone and wallet. The skull fracture exposed Sandeep's brain and broken bone chips were embedded on his brain. The injury was said to be potentially fatal by medical experts who testified in the trial of the apprehended culprits but Sandeep managed to survive with timely medical intervention.
Sandeep would not be the only one who would narrowly escape death; 19-year-old Singaporean Ang Jun Heng was another victim who would also have a close shave with death. After robbing Sandeep, the four robbers - Tony, Micheal, and two of their six accomplices and fellow Malaysians from Sarawak, 19-year-old cleaner Hairee Anak Landak and 20-year-old Donny Anak Medula, would encounter Ang who was walking alone along a footpath beneath a MRT track from Kallang MRT station after a late night out with his friends. Tony first kicked Ang, and when the then-full-time National Serviceman was about to defend himself, he was attacked by the other robbers, who punched, kicked and slashed him. Ang's left palm was severed during the attack, causing him to lose his four fingers; he also sustained head injuries and laceration wounds, including a deep wound on his neck which almost cut his spinal cord. Medical experts highlighted at the trial that this particular injury could also cause death, had Ang not received medical attention on time, which he did nine hours after the attack, when a pedestrian spotted him lying on a nearby open field behind a school.
The third victim was 43-year-old Egan Karrupaiah. The pipe fitter was similarly robbed of his mobile phone and wallet, and was assaulted by Micheal, Tony and Donny ; this left him with several fractures and lacerations, and four of his fingers sliced off. Both of his arms were almost hacked to the bone.
After the robbers had robbed Egan, it was then 41-year-old construction worker Shanmuganathan Dillidurai was targeted. This time, unlike his fellow victims, the luck was not on Shanmuganathan's side. While he was riding a bicycle along Kallang Road near a condominium, Tony first attacked him by knocking him off the bicycle. After that, Shanmuganathan was severely assaulted by all the four robbers, with Micheal wielding a parang to slash him while Tony holding the man down. Shanmuganathan sustained a fractured skull, a severed left hand, a deep slash wound across his neck and a wound over his back which cut so deep that his shoulder blade was cracked. Shanmuganathan did not survive the attack and he died. His body was found at 7:30 am. An autopsy conducted by forensic pathologist Dr. Paul Chui revealed that there were twenty injuries on Shanmuganathan, and four of these injuries were the ones that killed him.
The robbery spree lasted for around eight hours.

Arrests and charges

After the commission of the five robbery offenses, police investigations led to the arrest of Micheal, Tony and Hairee, as well as their four other companions - Peter Usit Musa, 22; Slyvester Beragok, 26; Landa Surai, 28 and Shahman Milak, 21 - who participated in the first robbery of Wang Jiu Sheng. However, of all the eight people in the robbery, only Donny Medula was not arrested, as he fled from Singapore into Malaysia hours after committing the gruesome robberies. Micheal, Tony and Hairee, who were identified as the main participants of the Kallang robberies, were charged with the murder of Shanmuganathan Dillidurai. The four other people were only charged with gang robbery for their participation in the first robbery.

The convictions of Shahman, Peter, Landa, and Slyvester

In October 2010, merely five months after the Kallang slashings, one of the minor accomplices - Shahman Milak - was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and six strokes of the cane for attempted robbery after pleading guilty to the charge. Peter Usit Musa, Landa Surai, and Slyvester Beragok were brought to trial for the gang robbery of Wang Jiu Sheng. Despite the fact that they denied their police statements were made voluntarily, both Slyvester and Landa later admitted to the robbery while Peter continued to maintain his innocence. On 4 February 2011, both Slyvester and Landa were each sentenced to six years' imprisonment and twelve strokes of the cane for gang robbery, leaving Peter the sole member to continue his trial for gang robbery. In midst of his defense, Peter changed his plea to guilty, finally admitting to the gang robbery charge. He was essentially given the same sentence - six years' imprisonment and twelve strokes of the cane - like Slyvester and Landa for his role in the robbery of Wang Jiu Sheng. However, Micheal, Tony, and Hairee still faced the murder charge.

Victims

Hairee's conviction and sentence

Eventually, the murder charge against Hairee Anak Landak was reduced to one of armed robbery with hurt. Hairee pleaded guilty to the reduced charge; he also admitted to two more charges of armed robbery with hurt relating to the attacks on Sandeep and Ang and was thus convicted of these three criminal charges . On 18 January 2013, Hairee Landak was sentenced to a total of 33 years' imprisonment and the maximum caning sentence of 24 strokes of the cane; during sentencing, Justice Tay Yong Kwang reportedly pointed out the "extremely vicious" nature of the attacks, agreeing with the prosecution to commit Hairee to a lengthy jail term with caning despite the mitigation plea by Hairee's lawyer John Abraham for leniency on account of Hairee's young age at the time of the offense and his cooperation with the police after his arrest.

The murder trial of Micheal Anak Garing, and Tony Anak Imba

The trial of Micheal Anak Garing and Tony Anak Imba began on 3 October 2013. Micheal was represented by lawyers Ramesh Tiwary and Josephus Tan Joon Liang, while Tony was represented by lawyers B. J. Lean and Amarick Gill Singh. The prosecution team consisted of Deputy Public Prosecutor Anandan Bala, DPP Seraphina Fong, and DPP Marcus Foo from the Attorney-General's Chambers. The case was heard before Justice Choo Han Teck in the High Court.
At the trial, all the three victims - Sandeep Singh, Ang Jun Heng, and Egan Karrupaiah - all testified at the trial against the two murder defendants. The defense counsel for the two men sought to object to the prosecution's evidence regarding the first robberies they committed before that of Shanmuganathan, arguing over the pre-judicial effect it might have on their clients' cases.
In their respective defenses, both men gave conflicting defenses and blamed each other for the death of Shanmuganathan. Micheal insisted that in his defense that he did wield the parang but only swung it over the victim's head, claiming it was Tony who snatched the parang from him and slashed the victim after they robbed him of his wallet ; while Tony asserted in his defense that it was Micheal alone who used the parang to attack Shanmuganathan, even claiming he did not share the common intention of assaulting the victim, merely tagging along to commit robbery and even claimed he tried to stop Micheal from using the parang, at one point, during the attack on Sandeep Singh. Additionally, Hairee Landak, who was serving his 33-year imprisonment sentence at the time of the men's trial, testified that it was Micheal alone who used the parang, and even stated Tony had held down the victim Shanmuganathan while Micheal continued his slashng attack on the man. However, the inconsistencies in his police statements and court testimonies, as well as his difficulty in recalling some of the events were impeached and pointed out by Micheal's lawyer Ramesh Tiwary as alleged lies to the court.

Verdict and sentence

The trial lasted for twelve days. On 20 January 2014, Justice Choo Han Teck delivered his verdict. He found both Micheal and Tony guilty of murder and convicted them as charged. Justice Choo determined that Micheal was the only person who used the 58-cm long parang to attack not only the deceased victim Shanmuganathan, but the other victims of their robbery spree, rejecting Micheal's evidence that Tony was the one using the parang to slash Shanmuganathan. Justice Choo also rejected Tony's claims of his only intention was to rob the victims, pointing out his active involvement in the robberies had contradicted his oblivion of the seriousness of the assaults by Micheal with the parang, which he said in his own words while reading the verdict, "Having seen three victims lying in their own blood, it lies ill in his mouth to say at trial that he did not know that Shanmuganathan would be slashed." Additionally, Justice Choo pointed out that despite the unclear aspects of Hairee's evidence, he accepted Hairee's evidence of Tony restraining the deceased victim during the lethal attack, and also the prosecution's evidence of the other robberies committed before Shanmuganathan's despite them having stood down the robbery charges. However, Justice Choo stated he would reserve judgement and take some time to decide on the sentences of the two men, postponing the sentencing to a later fixed date, allowing the prosecution and defense to make submissions on sentencing.
At the time of Micheal and Tony’s trial, the changes to the law took effect in 2013, which made the death penalty no longer mandatory for certain murder offenses which were committed with no intention to kill; for this, the judges are allowed to impose a discretionary sentence of life imprisonment with/without caning other than the death penalty to such offenders. Micheal and Tony were charged with murder under section 300 of the Penal Code, which constitutes an act where a person intentionally inflict a bodily injury on another person, and the bodily injury itself is sufficient in the ordinary cause of nature to cause death. They would face either life in prison with caning or death if they were found guilty of murder under this particular section.
The prosecution argued for the death penalty for both men, arguing that both accused are ought to be held equally responsible and equally culpable for their part in the robbery and murder of Shanmuganathan Dillidurai, while the defense lawyers of the two men argued that the death penalty was inappropriate in their clients' cases, and gave their respective reasons. However, it would be another year before the two men get to learn their fates.
On 20 April 2015, more than a year after they were found guilty and convicted, the two men were finally sentenced. Micheal was sentenced to death while Tony was spared the gallows and sentenced to life imprisonment with 24 strokes of the cane. Additionally, Tony's life sentence was ordered to commence from the date of his conviction by the High Court the year before.
Explaining why Micheal Garing received the harsher sentence of death, Justice Choo Han Teck stated in his verdict that Micheal, armed with a parang, had each time violently attacked his victims; he found the prosecution's evidence of the previous robberies relevant to the murder case as the nature of each attack was just as violent as the one that took Shanmuganathan's life. For this, he stated it was justified to sentence Micheal to suffer death based on his conduct at the time of the attacks and murder.
As for Tony Imba, Justice Choo contended that he may have shared the common intention with Micheal, Hairee Landak and the missing Donny Medula to rob the victims, he accepted the submissions of Tony's lawyer Amarick Gill that Tony did not inflict the fatal injuries on Shanmuganathan despite being the initiator of the attack, which gave him a lower culpability than Micheal on the charge of murder. Hence, he resisted the urgings of the prosecution to give Tony the death sentence and instead exercise his discretion to commit Tony to incarceration for life with caning.
The families and friends of Micheal Garing and Tony Imba were present in the courtroom when the sentence was passed. Tony's 45-year-old elder brother Dom Imba said to reporters that the family was grateful that Tony would not be hanged. Amarick Gill also told reporters that even though a life sentence was nonetheless a harsh punishment, he stated that it was a fair sentence for Tony in relation to his crime. On the other hand, Micheal's 64-year-old father Garing Kanyan, who had been praying for his son to escape the death penalty since his son's arrest, told reporters that the family reacted badly to Micheal's sentence. He added that he had a bad feeling when everyone in the courtroom was told to stand before Micheal was sentenced, and his worst fears were confirmed when he heard the death sentence being pronounced on Micheal. He also said the family will not lose hope and will seek to have Micheal escape the death penalty.
Micheal's lawyer confirmed that Micheal will be appealing against his conviction and sentence. The prosecution also stated they will appeal against Tony's sentence.

Appeals of Micheal and the prosecution: Donny's arrest

Hearing of the appeals

On 5 September 2016, nearly 17 months after Micheal was sentenced to death, his appeal was first heard before the Court of Appeal, heard by three Judges of Appeal - Chao Hick Tin, Andrew Phang and Judith Prakash. At the same time, the prosecution's appeal against Tony's life term was also heard in the same court as Micheal's. Like Micheal, Tony initially filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence but he subsequently withdrew it. Both men's respective defense lawyers and the prosecution made their respective arguments as the Court of Appeal heard the appeals, specifically Micheal whose lawyer argued against the murder conviction and sentence; Micheal's lawyer also additionally argued that even if the Court of Appeal decided to uphold Micheal's conviction, he sought for reconsideration on Micheal's sentence, arguing that the death sentence was inappropriate and his client should be imprisoned for life like Tony by providing his reasons. Judgement was reserved and the verdict was scheduled to be delivered in January 2017.

The capture of Donny Medula

On 14 January 2017, nearly seven years after the Kallang slashings, the final culprit, and fugitive Donny Medula was finally caught by the Malaysian police as he arrived at Sibu Airport on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Donny, who converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul Rahman Abdullah while on the run, was remanded in Sarawak for four days before being handed over to the Singaporean police on 18 January 2017. On 20 January 2017, two days after arriving in Singapore, Donny was charged with murder. The defense counsel of Micheal and Tony asked for the deferment of the delivery of the verdict by the Court of Appeal as they wanted to interview Donny Medula. However, Donny refused to be interviewed.

Outcome of appeals

On 27 February 2017, the Court of Appeal released their verdict, with Justice Chao delivering the judgement: they dismissed both appeals from the defense and the prosecution and upheld both men's respective sentences, effectively bringing Micheal Garing one step closer to the gallows and Tony Imba to be ultimately spared the death penalty.
Justice Chao stated in their judgement that there is no doubt that Micheal had attacked Shanmuganathan Dillidurai with a parang in a savage and merciless manner, and such sheer brutality demonstrated a blatant disregard for human life, which made the death penalty the only appropriate sentence in Micheal's case. As such, they dismissed Micheal's appeal and upheld his sentence and conviction.
Turning to Tony's case, Justice Chao stated that it was not disputed that Tony started off the violent attack on Shanmuganathan by kicking the construction worker off his bicycle. However, they were not satisfied that Tony did hold on to the deceased for a significant amount of time long enough for Micheal to inflict the fatal injuries; they accept Tony's lawyer Amarick Gill's argument that from Micheal's savage and indiscriminate attack on Shanmuganathan with the parang while Tony restraining the deceased, it would be unlikely for Tony to do so without himself suffering the blows. They rejected the prosecution's argument that Tony had deliberately positioned himself in a manner where he could not be injured by the parang, as their argument was speculative and not proven by evidence. The lack of Shanmuganathan's DNA and blood on the clothes Tony wore during the attack also further weaken this possibility.
They also took note on how the third accomplice Hairee Landak had difficulty to recall the events that took place on 29 May 2010, and the discrepancies in his police statements and court testimonies. However, they said these were not significant enough to make his evidence against Micheal unreliable, and they accept that from Hairee's evidence that it was Micheal who alone used the parang to attack the victim. They also contended that with the same difficulty of recalling his evidence and the lack of lighting at the murder scene during the time they robbed Shanmuganathan, it is unsatisfactory that Tony had indeed restrained Shanmuganathan for a significant period of time during the fatal assault as what Hairee demonstrated in the court.
In addition, the Court of Appeal also determined that from this unproven hypothesis of Tony holding on to the deceased for a significant amount of time long enough for Micheal to inflict the fatal injuries, they were not satisfied that Tony had a blatant disregard for human life where the death penalty is warranted. Even though Tony likely knew that Micheal would use the parang on Shanmuganathan as he did on all their previous victims, it is insufficient to indicate any blatant disregard for human life on Tony's part. For this, they also dismissed the prosecution's appeal, affirming Justice Choo Han Teck's decision to impose the discretionary life sentence on Tony.

The fate of Donny Medula/Abdul Rahman Abdullah

Eventually, the murder charge against Donny Medula, who is now also addressed as Abdul Rahman based on his Muslim name and alias, was reduced to armed robbery with hurt. Abdul Rahman pleaded guilty to the reduced charge. He also faced three additional charges of armed robbery with hurt for his role in the robberies of Sandeep Singh, Ang Jun Heng, and Egan Karrupaiah. Similarly, Abdul Rahman pleaded guilty to two of these three charges and the third would also be taken into consideration during sentencing.
In his mitigation plea, as presented by his lawyer Siva S. Krishnasamy, Abdul Rahman pleaded for a lenient sentence, stating that he had turned over a new leaf and led a reformed life free of crime after embracing Islam while on the run. The prosecutor who was prosecuting Abdul Rahman, DPP Anandan Bala however, argued that Abdul Rahman's life on the right side of the law while on the run should not be regarded as mitigating, as the seven years he spent in Malaysia eluding justice was aggravating and it prolonged the closure the victims and their families needed and delayed the conclusion of the necessary legal proceedings against the culprits of the Kallang slashings. On 19 November 2018, Abdul Rahman Abdullah, then 28 years old, was sentenced to a total of 33 years' imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane for his participation in the Kallang robberies. The sentencing of Abdul Rahman has finally brought an end to the court proceedings made against all members of the Kallang slashings.

22 March 2019: The hanging of Micheal Anak Garing

Efforts to save Micheal Garing

Subsequently, after the failure of his appeal, Micheal Garing remains on death row for another period of two years and one month. During that time, Micheal has converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Arif Sufi.
In early March 2019, an execution order was warranted for Micheal, scheduling him to be hanged on the morning of Friday, 22 March 2019. On 14 March 2019, the family and relatives of Micheal were given an eight-day notice of the upcoming execution and asked to make preparations for the necessary funeral arrangements.
Having received news of the upcoming execution and execution order, Malaysian human rights lawyer N. Surendran released a statement on 18 March 2019, saying, “This extremely short notice is disturbing and a cause for concern. It gives the family scant time to spend with Michael in his final days and to make preparations.”, condemning the Singaporean authorities for giving such a short notice of execution to Micheal's family. He also called on President Halimah Yacob to grant Micheal clemency and lower his death sentence to life imprisonment, adding that while Micheal deserves to be punished for the heinous killing of Shanmuganathan Dillidurai, he should be given a second chance for rehabilitation and that it would be a greater wrong for the state to execute the Sarawakian. He also urged Singapore to impose a moratorium on all executions and work towards the abolition of the death penalty.
Similarly, on 19 March 2019, Liew Vui Keong, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, stated that Malaysia will issue a letter to Singapore to protest against Micheal's pending execution.
On 20 March 2019, Amnesty International also protested against the imminent hanging of Micheal. Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Singapore Researcher at Amnesty International, said this, “Once again, Singapore threatens to inflict the kind of cruelty it claims to oppose. No matter how heinous the crime, the death penalty is a degrading and inhuman punishment. We denounce its use in all circumstances.” She even called for the Singaporean authorities to stop their plans to "carry out this callous execution."
At the same time, Micheal's parents, Mr Garing Anak Kanyan and Mdm Ensiring Anak Garman sent a clemency petition to the President of Singapore, pleading with the President to have mercy on Micheal, who was the third child out of the couple's four children, and to spare his life. In the clemency petition, Michael's parents wrote that, "We humbly ask the president of Singapore for mercy and compassion to spare the life of our son Michael. We do not want to excuse our son's offense, but we ask for mercy." Micheal had also petitioned to the president for clemency, in a bid to have his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed gathered reporters on 20 March 2019, stating the government will save Micheal as "many believe that the death penalty is excessive and hope that Singapore feels the same way too."
"We are trying to save this man's life. As we know, Malaysians' thinking nowadays is that the death sentence is too harsh. The death penalty should be replaced, which we are planning to do, unless it involves specific cases," he added.

Clemency plea failed: Micheal hanged

Eventually, on the advice of the Cabinet, President Halimah Yacob rejected the clemency plea submitted by Micheal, setting Micheal to be hanged for Shanmuganathan's murder. Despite the appeals and international protests, Micheal still failed in his final bid to escape the gallows.
On the morning of 22 March 2019, nearly 9 years after the unfortunate death of Shanmuganathan Dillidurai, 30-year-old Micheal Anak Garing was finally hanged to death in the state gallows of Changi Prison. His body was later brought back by flight to his family in Sarawak. A funeral was held, and Micheal's body was later buried in a Muslim cemetery in Kapit. Malaysian news reports stated that Micheal's parents were devastated upon receiving news of their son's death. An unnamed relative of Micheal said to reporters, "I still do not want to believe despite being told the sentence has been carried out."
Back in Malaysia, Suara Rakyat Malaysia condemned the city-state's hanging of Micheal. They said that the death penalty does not and will not provide justice. They said that Micheal's execution will not deter any similar offences in the future or undo his criminal acts, and called for both Singapore and Malaysia to abolish the death penalty. They said, "The death penalty merely endorses and repeat the violence and senseless loss of life inflicted by the accused through his crime and legitimise violence." On the day of Micheal's execution, Suaram released a statement; in its own words, it said this, "Malaysia must learn from the senseless violence practised by Singapore and ensure that Malaysia is set on the path for total abolition of the death penalty, and not the path where violence and murder is legitimised through the criminal justice system." Suaram also reportedly offered condolences to Micheal's surviving family members and relatives.
In a statement, according to The Straits Times, the Ministry of Home Affairs said Micheal was accorded full due process under the law, and was represented by legal counsel throughout the process.
"Our laws apply equally to all, regardless of whether the offender is local or foreign," said MHA, reiterating that all the foreigners who visit or reside in Singapore must abide by Singapore's laws.
The ministry also said that the death penalty is part of Singapore's criminal justice system and is used only against very serious crimes. In their own words, MHA stressed, "The issue of capital punishment is a question that every state has the sovereign right to decide for itself, taking into account its own circumstances."

Aftermath

Fates of the other robbers

At the time of Micheal's execution, the other three main culprits of the Kallang robberies - Tony Anak Imba, Hairee Anak Landak and Abdul Rahman Abdullah - were still in prison serving their respective sentences. If they maintain good behaviour while in prison, both Hairee and Abdul Rahman will be released after serving at least two-thirds of their sentences. By then, Hairee and Abdul Rahman would probably be aged between 40 to 50 at the time of their release. Tony will probably be in prison for the rest of his natural life, unless he became eligible for parole upon the review of his conduct after serving at least twenty years of his life sentence.
As for the four minor accomplices of the Kallang robberies, they were all presumably released from prison after serving their full sentences.

Fates of the other victims

After the major incidents in Kallang, as of August 2020, it is not known over what happened to the first robbery victim Wang Jiu Sheng. It can be presumed that after his ordeal on that fateful night, that he might have possibly returned to China or continue working in Singapore.
The second victim Sandeep Singh, who recovered the fastest among all the victims, continued to stay in Singapore to work as a cleaner. He only left Singapore in 2014 to get married back in India.
For the third victim Ang Jun Heng, who also goes by the name Jairus Ang, he managed to recover from his injuries. However, the doctors were unable to re-attach his left palm, and it had to be amputated, leaving behind only a thumb. After his recovery, Ang continued to serve his National Service in the navy. He also learnt to use only six fingers to do daily things like typing on a computer and holding utensils to eat. He also went on to represent Singapore in the 2011 Paracanoe World Championships, and pursue a two-year-long national athletic career, and attended the University of Virginia in USA. As of April 2017, Ang has graduated from university and he is currently working in USA.
According to an article, Ang stated he never felt any grudge against the assailants who attacked him on that fateful night of 29 May 2010. He stated he only felt regret that one of his fellow victims has lost his life, leaving his family bereaved, the plight of the other victims, and the ultimate price that the assailants had to pay for their grievous acts.
The fourth and last survivor of the Kallang slashings, Egan Karrupaiah, managed to have his four severed fingers re-attached in an operation. However, his fingers were stiff and has limited mobility, causing him to unable to work for a period of four years after the incident. He stayed in Singapore to recuperate and only returned to India in 2014. At the advice of the physiotherapist, Egan performed some exercises to allow his fingers to be more mobile, and he eventually recovered. As of April 2015, Egan was back in India working as a shop assistant, a job offered out of goodwill to him.
According to Egan in an article, he said he was grateful to the people in Singapore who treated him with kindness after the unfortunate incident. He reportedly received more than $90,000 in donations. The money was used by Egan to pay for his family's expenses, the education fees of his two adult children - a son and a daughter - and to re-build a new house after his old home fell beyond repair. Even after his ordeal, Egan expressed that the incident did not negate the feelings he had towards Singapore and he still want to return to Singapore to work, hoping to find employment in the city-state. He added that he has left the traumatic event behind him and looked forward to the future.