Trials of Ram Puneet Tiwary

Ram Puneet Tiwary (born 1979) is a Singaporean who was accused of the violent murder of his two friends and flatmates Tay Chow Lyang (郑潮亮)[1] (b. 1977–d. 2003) and Tony Tan Poh Chuan (陈宝川)[1] (b. 3 December 1976–d. 15 September 2003),[2] in which the case was dubbed the "Sydney Double Murders" in media. This sensational case made headlines in Singapore and Australia. Initially convicted twice on two occasions for the deaths of Tan and Tay, Tiwary was acquitted upon his second appeal and freed nine years after the occurrence of the murders. Till today, the murder remains unsolved.

Ram Tiwary
Born
Ram Puneet Tiwary

1979
Singapore
NationalityIndian
Known forAlleged murderer of his two flatmates Tay Chow Lyang and Tony Tan Poh Chuan

Murder

On 15 September 2003, two Singaporeans – 26-year-old Tay Chow Lyang and 27-year-old Tony Tan Poh Chuan – were found murdered in their flat in Sydney, Australia. Tay was bludgeoned to death while Tan, who returned home from a university lecture, was murdered some time after Tay's death. The victims' 24-year-old flatmate and fellow Singaporean, Ram Puneet Tiwary, who happened to be asleep in his room at the time of the murders, was awakened by sounds of violence, locked himself in the room and later, he called the ambulance and police upon seeing his flatmates' bodies. Tiwary, together with both Tay and Tan, attended the same class at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) at that time for an engineering course on an army scholarship.

Trials, appeals and acquittal

Initially a police witness, Ram Puneet Tiwary was subsequently placed under arrest and charged with murder on 28 May 2004.[3] Prosecuting officers had found that Tiwary may have possible motives to commit the crime.[3] Tiwary had owe Tay Chow Lyang an outstanding amount of A$5,045 in rent.[3] Tiwary also owed UNSW school fees, and his poor grades may potentially jeopardise his scholarship which would have required him to repay his sponsoring organisation.[4] A scene of a dispute had erupted between Tiwary and Tay in that morning resulting in the death of Tay, and subsequently the death of Tony Tan Poh Chuan as well to cover up the earlier act.[3][4] At the trial, a 12-member jury found Tiwary, who maintained his innocence throughout, guilty of the double murder[5] and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole in 2006. In his memoir, Tiwary posited a possibility that racism could have been behind his guilty verdict.[6] During his period of imprisonment, he had been a target of several other inmates in prison for assault.[3] These attacks left him with a partial loss of sensation in his right thumb and a scarred left shoulder.[3]

Tiwary filed an appeal, and in 2008, the Court of Appeal ordered a re-trial for Tiwary, based on the review of evidence, in which some of them did not amount to a murder conviction. A year later, at the re-trial, the jury returned again with a guilty verdict, sentencing Tiwary to 48 years' imprisonment. Tiwary made a second appeal against his conviction and sentence. The second appeal was focused on Tiwary's tone in his phone call to the ambulance, the victims' unusual behaviour on the day of the murder as witnessed by several people and the forensic evidence. The Court of Appeal decided that the evidence against Tiwary was not satisfactory, therefore they found him not guilty of the murders of both Tay and Tan, and acquitted Tiwary of the double murder charges on 26 July 2012.[4][7]

Aftermath

After his acquittal, Tiwary was detained for a while before he was allowed to return to Singapore. On 19 September 2012, Tiwary once again stepped onto Singaporean soil. He declined speaking to reporters out of respect for the bereaved families of his two dead flatmates.[6]

When told of the news of Tiwary's acquittal, Tony Tan's family expressed shock over the news, and were said to be once again at a loss over the events. The family of Tay Chow Lyang could not be contacted. Back in Australia, the prosecution confirmed they will not appeal against the decision of the appellate court.

After returning to Singapore, Tiwary penned down a memoir, titled 99 Months: The Case Of The Sydney Double Murders, which covers the case, as well as Tiwary's two trials, his experiences in prison, appeals and his eventual acquittal.[8] It was published in September 2014. At the time of publication, Tiwary was 35 years old. It is also mentioned in an article that Tiwary had made a trip around the world after his return to Singapore, and did not complete the mechanical engineering degree from Sydney. Other than that, Tiwary did not make any further comments about his private life. Even till then, he still struggles with his trauma from the events that occurred these past 8 years.[9]

The case was made into a documentary by Channel NewsAsia (CNA), in which Tiwary or his family declined to appear on screen. Tony Tan's parents Mr Tan Wee Sea and Mdm Chiew Lee Hua, and his sister Tan Poh Lin, were approached to talk about their feelings regarding the case, while Tay's family remains uncontactable.[2]

The murderer(s) of Tay and Tan were not found.

References
  1. "涉案星學生 關8年後獲判無罪". Yahoo (in Chinese). Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. "Get Rea!: The Sydney Murders Mystery". YouTube. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. "Ram Puneet Tiwary: Looking back, I can't recognise myself". AsiaOne. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  4. "S'porean Ram Tiwary acquitted of double murder". CNA. 27 July 2012. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  5. "Student convicted of double murder". The Star Online. 21 June 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  6. Porter, Liz (15 November 2017). "The trials of Ram Puneet Tiwary". Crime Scene Asia: When forensic evidence becomes the silent witness. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. ISBN 978-981-4794-54-1.
  7. "If it wasn't him, who was it?". AsiaOne. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  8. "Tiwary opens up on 2003 Sydney killings". Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  9. "Ram Puneet Tiwary: Looking back, I can't recognise myself". AsiaOne. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2020.

Further reading
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