Galing Kujat

Galing Anak Kujat (born c. 1983) is a convicted robber and a native Malaysian of Iban descent who came from Sarawak, Malaysia.

He was best known to be the accomplice of Kho Jabing, a convicted murderer who also came from Malaysia and was known for his years-long battle against the death penalty in Singapore.

Galing Anak Kujat was born sometime in 1983, and he was born and raised in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Nothing is known about Galing's early life and childhood before he came to Singapore to work.

It is possible that like thousands of foreigners before him, Galing came to Singapore to earn a better income to provide a better life for himself and his family, and possibly to settle in Singapore.

Galing and Kho were both involved in the 2008 robbery and murder of mainland Chinese national and construction worker Cao Ruyin in Singapore.

Initially facing a murder charge and possible execution, Galing was eventually imprisoned and jailed for robbery with hurt.

On the afternoon of 17 February 2008, Galing Anak Kujat, who was then employed to load ships in a shipyard in Singapore, together with his friend Kho Jabing, an employee of a rag and bone company, and their three friends and compatriots from Sarawak to rob two Bangladeshi construction workers from the workplace of one of their three friends in Tiong Bahru.

However, before the robbery plan could be executed, the two workers had left with their boss.

The five remained in Tiong Bahru for drinks.

After that, at about 7 pm, the five men went to Geylang for more drinks.

During the trip, they had an argument over whether they should commit robbery in Geylang in view of their aborted robbery attempt earlier that day.

Later on, Kho and Galing left the group.

They walked together for a while before noticing two mainland Chinese men walking along a pathway in an open space near Geylang Drive.

The men thus decided to rob the pair.

The two mainland Chinese men - mainland Chinese nationals and construction workers Cao Ruyin (Traditional Chinese: 曹如銀; Simplified Chinese: 曹如银; Pinyin: cáo rúyín) and Wu Jun (Traditional Chinese: 吳軍; Simplified Chinese: 吴军; Pinyin: wú jūn) - were walking together in that same area after dinner when they were unknowingly targeted by the two Sarawakians.

Kho picked up a fallen tree branch, and used it to hit one of the men, Cao, from behind.

As Kho began to assault Cao, Galing joined in by using his belt to hit Cao after failing to catch up with Wu, who escaped to contact the police.

The assault eventually stopped and the pair also took away Cao's mobile phone.

From the attack, Cao suffered from 14 skull fractures, which also caused injuries to the brain.

Cao was subsequently rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where doctors operated on him twice to treat his head injuries, but despite the efforts of the doctors, Cao did not recover from these injuries and slipped into a coma.

Six days later, on 23 February 2008, 40-year-old Cao Ruyin passed away.

After Cao's death, forensic pathologist Teo Eng Swee conducted an autopsy on the deceased construction worker, and Teo later certified that it was the severe head injuries that killed him.

After robbing Cao Ruyin and Wu Jun, Kho Jabing and Galing Kujat regrouped with their three friends and they together sold Cao's mobile phone for S$300.

The five men used some of the proceeds to pay for their drinks and food while dividing the rest between themselves.

Nine days later, police investigations led to the arrests of both Kho and Galing on 26 February 2008 (3 days after Cao's death).

They were all indicted and remanded for murder, which carries the mandatory death penalty under Singapore law at that time.

Subsequently, their three friends are also arrested for the attempted robbery of the Bangladeshi workers.

The trio were all sent to jail with caning some time before both Kho and Galing stood trial for murder.

There is nothing known about how Galing's family reacted to his arrest or involvement in the brutal robbery-murder of Cao Ruyin.

The trial of Kho Jabing and Galing Anak Kujat began in July 2009.

Galing was represented by lawyers Chandra Mohan s/o K Nair and Chia Soo Michael, while Kho was represented by lawyers Johan Ismail and Zaminder Singh Gill, while the prosecution consisted of Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Leong Wing Tuck and Gordon Oh of the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).

The case was heard before Justice Kan Ting Chiu in the High Court.

Dr Teo Eng Swee, the pathologist who performed an autopsy on the victim Cao Ruyin and released a medical report, told the court that he believed that the skull fractures on Cao was caused by at least 5 blows or more, and one of these were possibly caused by either a blow or a fall on the back of the head.

He added that the first few fractures were caused with severe force, and the subsequent ones resulted from less severe impacts on the head.

Kho Jabing, on the other hand, lost his appeal against his sentence in 2011, and his clemency petition also failed.

Kho's sentence however, was commuted to a life sentence with 24 strokes of caning after Singapore's death penalty laws undergone a reform in 2013.

Despite receiving less attention compared to his accomplice, Galing still played a role in Kho's case, and was one of the factors that led to the respective outcomes of the appeals (from both the defence and prosecution) related to Kho's case, which indirectly had an effect on Kho's fate, and on a large scale, the implementation of the guiding principles of the discretionary death penalty applied for murder cases in Singapore since the law's reforms in 2013.

After the prosecution successfully appealed for a new death sentence for Kho, he was eventually executed in 2016.

The prosecution's appeal had also led to some main guidelines being set for the imposition of the death penalty for murder with no intention to kill, making Kho Jabing's case a landmark case in Singapore's legal history.