Cold Blooded Murders (10 page)

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.”

Mr Francis Seow: When do you depart
from the truth?

Sunny Ang: I cannot give you instances.
Everybody does depart from the truth some time or other.

Mr Francis Seow: Would you depart from
the truth when it suits your purpose?

Sunny Ang: Not exactly.

Mr Francis Seow: Then when?

Sunny Ang: I told you I cannot quote
instances, but I do.

Mr Francis Seow: In this particular
case have you told any untruth?

Sunny Ang: No.

Mr Francis Seow: Not one?

Sunny Ang: Not one untruth.

Mr Francis Seow: Either to the
insurance companies or to any person in connection with this case?

Sunny Ang: I admit I did tell some
untruths to the insurance companies.

His Lordship: Would you describe them
as white lies or blunt untruths?

Sunny Ang: Untruths.

His Lordship: They were falsehoods.

Sunny Ang: Yes.

Mr Francis Seow: To gain a certain
purpose?

Sunny Ang: Not exactly. Can you give me
an example? Then I will tell you whether I did for a certain purpose or not.

Mr Francis Seow: What about the letters
to the Great Eastern Life for the purpose of getting insurance which Jenny had
applied for?

Sunny Ang: That was not the primary
reason. The primary reason was to get commission, which I would get if the
policy is accepted.

His Lordship: You lied with the golden
hope of gaining?

Sunny Ang: To get commission.

Mr Francis Seow: Where is Jenny?

Sunny Ang: I do not know.

Mr Francis Seow: Is she dead?

Sunny Ang: Presumably so.

Mr Francis Seow: Why do you presume she
is dead?

Sunny Ang: Because she has not been
heard of since.

Mr Francis Seow: If she is alive would
she have contacted you?

Sunny Ang: Yes.

Mr Francis Seow: And she has done that?

Sunny Ang: No.

Crown counsel asked Ang about his plans to
change his name, about his participation in the Singapore Grand Prix in 1961,
and about his anxiety to have a coroner’s inquiry into Jenny’s disappearance.

Mr Francis Seow: Because the coroner
could make a finding that she is formally dead?

Sunny Ang: We had hopes of that.

Mr Francis Seow: You had hopes of that?

Sunny Ang: Yes.

Mr Francis Seow: And, once the coroner
makes that finding, the way is then very clear for you to collect $450,000
through your mother?

Sunny Ang: $300,000.

Mr Francis Seow: You have calculated
that?

Sunny Ang: That is obvious.

Mr Francis Seow: You had hopes to
collect that other $150,000? You were going to contest it?

Sunny Ang: It is impossible to contest.

Mr Francis Seow: But you were prepared
to contest for $100,000?

Sunny Ang: Not prepared, but we were
thinking of doing so.

Mr Francis Seow: Anyway, the $300,000
was practically safe in the kitty if you could get the coroner’s formal
findings?

Sunny Ang: Yes.

Mr Francis Seow: And with that end in
view, you badgered your counsel to chase after the coroner. Isn’t that correct?