Eugene Thuraisingam

In May 2019, Thuraisingam represented Malaysian drug trafficker Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam in his appeal for re-sentencing. Nagaenthran, who was on death row since 2010 for trafficking over 42g of heroin, submitted his appeal for re-sentencing after the 2013 changes to the death penalty laws (which allows life imprisonment for drug convicts with diminished responsibility), and in the appeal, Thuraisingam argued that Nagaenthran has low IQ and was thus intellectually disabled, therefore qualifying his for the defence of diminished responsibility and the death penalty should be commuted to life imprisonment. However, the psychiatrists from both the defence and prosecution confirmed that Nagaenthran was not intellectually disabled and he fully understood the full magnitude of his actions. Therefore he was denied re-sentencing by the Court of Appeal. Nagaenthran, who was later defended by another lawyer in his later appeals, was executed on 27 April 2022 despite international appeals for clemency.[13][14][15]

In July 2019, Thuraisingam represented former property agent Teo Ghim Heng, who was charged with the murders of his pregnant wife Choong Pei Shan and their daughter Zi Ning at their Woodlands flat during the final week before the Chinese New Year of 2017. Thuraisingam argued in the trial that Teo was suffering from major depressive disorder which impaired his mental responsibility during the commission of the offences, and he also put up the defence of sudden and grave provocation, since Teo recounted he was arguing violently with his wife over their precarious financial situation and Zi Ning's overdue school fees before he used a towel to strangle both Choong and Zi Ning. However, Teo was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, because both the High Court and Court of Appeal rejected Thuraisingam's arguments and Teo's defences, based on the fact that Teo knew perfectly what he was doing and his mental condition was normal and not impaired at the time he committed the murders.[16][17][18]

In November 2019, Thuraisingam represented Ridzuan Mega Abdul Rahman, an unemployed man who was jointly charged with his wife Azlin Arujunah for abusing and murdering his five-year-old son, who was fatally scalded to death after four scalding incidents over a week leading up to the boy's death. Thuraisingam presented evidence of Ridzuan having low IQ and intermittent explosive disorder among several psychiatric disorders to support his client's defence of diminished responsibility, and made arguments to create reasonable doubt over whether Ridzuan had knowledge that his scalding of his child (not named due to a gag order) would lead to the boy's death. While the psychiatric evidence did not hold much weight in favour of Ridzuan's case, Thuraisingam's efforts had seen partial success as the High Court acquitted Ridzuan of murder (together with Azlin) and thus sentenced Ridzuan to 27 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means.[19][20][21] Later on, Thuraisingam also help represent Ridzuan during the hearing of the prosecution's appeal, and he objected to the imposition of life imprisonment on Ridzuan on account of his young age and low functioning, which were factors that were in favour of leniency in his case. In the end, the five judges from the Court of Appeal increased Ridzuan's sentence to life imprisonment (with no caning) for the reduced charges (in light of the extreme cruelty of the abuse) while Azlin was found guilty of the original charge of murder and sentenced to life in prison by the same five judges.[22][23][24][25]

Another one of the cases taken by Thuraisingam was the case of Boh Soon Ho, a Malaysian who was charged with murdering his Chinese girlfriend Zhang Huaxiang inside his rented room at Circuit Road. Thuraisingam argued that Boh should be convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder as he committed the killing under the loss of self control due to sudden and grave provocation caused by Zhang, who told Boh that she was seeing other men, which caused anger and hurt to Boh, who had one sided feelings for her and led to him using a towel to strangle Zhang to death. However, Boh's defence was rejected by the courts of Singapore, and he was found guilty of the original charge of murder. Despite Thuraisingam's failed efforts to reduce the charge, he successfully argued for Boh to evade the death penalty and he was instead sentenced to lifetime imprisonment on the grounds that he did not exhibit viciousness or blatant disregard for human life, and that the murder itself was not premeditated in the first place.[26][27]

Thuraisingam also took charge of defending Ahmad Muin Yaacob, a Malaysian cleaner charged with murdering his supervisor Maimunah Awang (54 years old) at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and stealing her jewellery for money to cover his wedding expenses in November 2016. Although Thuraisingam was originally not Ahmad's lawyer at the start of his trial, he and his colleagues Chooi Jing Yen and Johannes Hadi took over the case by the time Ahmad was convicted of a Section 300(c) murder charge and awaiting his sentencing trial. Thuraisingam made representations to the prosecution that Ahmad had killed Maimunah in a fit of anger during a heated argument between him and Maimunah (who allegedly insulted Ahmad and his family), and there was no premeditation or intention on Ahmad's part to commit robbery and murder in the first place, and he argued that the case's overall nature and factors did not warrant the death penalty, which the prosecution eventually did not seek after relenting and agreeing to Thuraisingam's submissions. Ahmad was, in the end, sentenced to life imprisonment and 18 strokes of the cane on 4 November 2020.[28]

Thuraisingam was set to defend Tan Sen Yang, one of the seven suspects who were involved in the 2019 Orchard Towers murder. Tan was said to have used a karambit knife to stab the victim Satheesh Noel Gobidass on the neck and jaw, and he was the sole person to face a murder charge while the rest were sentenced for lower charges of assault, obstruction of justice and consorting an armed person. Tan is currently in remand pending trial for murder.[29]