Execution of Elke Tsang Kai-mong

Elke Tsang Kai-mong (張凱夢/张凯梦 or 張凱孟/张凯孟) was a 30 year old female Hongkonger who was executed in Singapore after being charged and found guilty with smuggling over 4 kg of diamorphine (or pure heroin) into the country.

At the time of her arrest in Singapore, Tsang was jobless due to the bankruptcy of her company, and was engaged to a man whom she first met at a disco in 1985 and fell in love with back in Hong Kong.

She was one of the few women from Hong Kong (including Angel Mou Pui Peng, Cheuk Mei Mei, Tong Ching Man and Poon Yuen Chung) who faced the gallows for drug offences in Singapore back in the 1990s.

Tsang, the daughter of a high-ranking Hong Kong police officer, was caught on 26 July 1992 at Changi Airport with 22 packets of diamorphine stuffed inside the inner lining of her two jackets.

On 26 July 1992, at Singapore's Changi Airport, 28-year-old Elke Tsang Kai-mong was arrested by the airport police for drug trafficking.

Customs officer Rosli Brahim, who observed and became suspicious of Tsang's behaviour at the airport, searched her possessions and found 22 packets of diamorphine stuffed inside the inner lining of her two winter jackets.

The total amount of diamorphine weighed 4.1307 kg, which was nearly 274 times the minimum amount (which is 15g) that mandated the death sentence under the Misuse of Drugs Act of Singapore if found guilty.

Tsang was therefore charged with trafficking diamorphine.

Tsang's case was regarded as the largest drug haul case encountered by the Central Narcotics Bureau, Singapore's narcotics police division, in that year itself.

Despite putting up a defence that she had committed the crime out of fear for her life, Tsang was nonetheless found guilty of capital drug trafficking after a six-day trial and sentenced to death on 19 October 1993.

On 11 October 1993, a year and three months after her arrest, Elke Tsang was brought to trial at the High Court before Judicial Commissioner M P H Rubin.

Tsang was represented by lawyers Shireena Woon and Alan Wong during her trial, while Ong Hian Sun was appointed as the trial prosecutor.

In her defence, Tsang claimed that she was intimidated into delivering the drugs from Bangkok to her original destination in Europe through transit to Singapore.

She recounted that she travelled from Hong Kong to Bangkok to look for a male friend named "Ah Jim", who borrowed HK$30,000 from her.

After she arrived at Thailand and met Ah Jim at Bangkok, Ah Jim confiscated her passport and asked her to deliver two to three packets of hashish (or marijuana) to Amsterdam via Singapore.

Aside from this, it was also a hanging offence by Singapore law standards to import 500g of hashish or more.

Due to the intimidation and threats by Ah Jim, Tsang had no choice but to accept the offer, and she received the two winter jackets from another man the next day, and that same man also packed up her jackets and luggage and kept them until she checked in at the airport.

Tsang's defence counsel argued that Tsang had no chance to check her baggage and was unaware she was carrying diamorphine while believing she had hashish in her possession, and should not be held fully culpable for drug trafficking since she did it against her will and out of safety for her life.

It was revealed during Tsang's trial that Ah Jim was arrested in Russia's capital city Moscow for drug offences and was incarcerated in a Russian prison at Moscow for these charges.

However, the prosecution rebutted that Tsang was aware that she was carrying diamorphine.

They pointed out that should Tsang was truly innocent and genuinely did not know she carried diamorphine, she would have, at the earliest opportunity, raised doubts about her knowledge of the presence of diamorphine in her baggage.

Even if it was true that Tsang had her passport confiscated or being in a helpless position due to the threats to her safety, she could simply choose to report the loss of her passport and told the authorities of her plight, or even sought help from the airport officials once she was out of the grip of these people who supposedly showed aggression on her.

On 19 October 1993, after a trial lasting six days, Judicial Commissioner M P H Rubin delivered his verdict.

In his judgement, JC Rubin found that the prosecution had successfully proven its case against Elke Tsang beyond a reasonable doubt, and rejected Tsang's defence that she did not know that she was carrying diamorphine and was misguided into thinking she was to deliver hashish.

JC Rubin also rejected Tsang's defence that she was forced and threatened by her accomplices to import the drugs from Europe through Singapore, and he accepted the prosecution's arguments about her inconsistent details of how she committed the crime and determined that Tsang had these 22 packages of diamorphine in her possession for the purpose of trafficking.

As such, 29-year-old Elke Tsang Kai-mong was found guilty of diamorphine trafficking and sentenced to death.

Tsang was reportedly emotionless at the verdict of death, and none of her family members were present in Singapore or the court to hear her trial outcome.

In the year 1993 when Elke Tsang was sentenced to hang, a total of 49 people, including Tsang herself, were given the death penalty for drug trafficking in Singapore between January and November 1993.

Tsang was hanged on 16 December 1994 after losing her appeal.

Elke Tsang Kai-mong was born in an affluent family living in British Hong Kong, and during adulthood, she resided in Hunghom.

Tsang was the second of four children in her family, and had one older brother, one younger sister and one younger brother.

Tsang's father was Hong Kong West Auxiliary Police Senior Superintendent Tsang Nim-tong.

Her parents were highly educated and graduated from university.

Tsang and her siblings were also sent to school to undergo higher studies.

Her older brother worked as an interior designer, her sister worked as a secretary and her younger brother was sent to study in Britain.

In contrast to her siblings however, Tsang did not complete her secondary school education, and she went to work as a merchandiser.

Tsang later appealed her death sentence and drug conviction, but the Court of Appeal rejected her appeal and affirmed her sentence on 26 January 1994.

In December 1994, Elke Tsang's family was notified that her execution would take place at Changi Prison on 16 December 1994.

During the final days on death row at Changi Prison, Tsang's boyfriend and fiancé, who wanted to known only as "Ah Lam", unfailingly wrote letters to his fiancée and even travelled to Singapore to visit Tsang in prison one final time.

He noted that Tsang was emotional and despondent over her imminent fate, and the fact that her family moved away from their Yuen Long home and cut off contact with her after her arrest.