5 months in jail for lone woman involved in Orchard Towers killing

Singapore — The lone woman among seven individuals charged in the death of a man at Orchard Towers last year was sentenced to five months in jail on Friday (Oct 9).

Natalie Siow Yu Zhen, who was 23 years old when the killing took place in the early hours of July 2, 2019, pleaded guilty to consorting with Tan Sen Yang. Tan possessed the  karambit knife that killed Mr Satheesh Noel Gobidass, 31. The weapon is curved and looks like a claw.

Siow also admitted to voluntarily causing hurt to Mr Satheesh.

In her sentencing, one charge of disorderly conduct was also taken into consideration, according to a report in todayonline.com.

While Siow, along with the six other individuals, was initially charged with murder, only Tan still faces the murder charge. The charges were downgraded for the others.

The prosecution said on Friday that it was aware that Siow’s actions had not caused the death of Mr Satheesh but Deputy Public Prosecutor Benedict Teong said that what the accused had done caused significant public disquiet.

The DPP told District Judge John Ng: “This is also a case of group violence against a single victim.”

The prosecution had sought a jail term of nine months for Siow.

According to her lawyer, Mr Amarick Gill of Amarick Gill LLC, Siow had learnt her lesson. He did not dispute what the DPP said.

“It is quite fair and Natalie understands that.

She has learnt her lesson. I don’t see this girl re-offending, ever.”

Siow’s five-month sentence took into account the 107 days that she has already spent in detention. Had she been given the maximum penalty for the charge of voluntarily causing hurt with common intention, she could have spent two years in jail, been fined up to S$5,000, or both.

As for the charge of consorting with a person with a dangerous weapon, Siow could have been jailed for as long as three years.

The former part-time pub waitress is the third of the seven in the group to have been sentenced for the killing. In March, Ang Da Yuan, 26, was sentenced to eight months in jail and six strokes of the cane, and Joel Tan Yun Sheng, 26, was given a four-week jail sentence.

Ang pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to Mr Satheesh by kicking and punching him and to consorting with Tan Seng Yang, with another charge taken into consideration at his sentencing.

Joel Tan pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to the victim by common intention, with a second charge taken into consideration at his sentencing.

The cases against the others are pending.

On the day of the incident, the victim collapsed near an escalator at Orchard Towers and was found lying motionless in a pool of blood. Members of the public attended to his injuries. The police were alerted at 6.25 am and the victim was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital unconscious and pronounced dead an hour later. /TISG

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Orchard Towers murder: Natalie Siow disputes 1 charge and claims trial