Alex Josey - Cold blooded murders

Henderson replied that there was a current, and that visibility was about 12 feet at the bottom on the seabed. There was also an undertow that carried him downwards. He stemmed it with considerable effort but at one point he was carried away about 150 yards.

Later the witness emphasized that a novice diver should never dive alone.

Crown Counsel: Is this what the Americans call the Buddy System? His Lordship: Let us try and still carry on in the English language, with due respect to any American. Crown Counsel: You must always dive with another person with you? Henderson: Yes. Crown Counsel: Would you be able to tell this Court what would be a scuba-diver’s greatest enemy under water? Henderson: Panic. Crown Counsel: What would happen to a diver who suddenly loses his, one of his, flippers while he is scuba-diving? Henderson: His equilibrium would be upset, his mobility would be impaired, and this may well lead to panic in the case of an inexperienced diver. Crown Counsel: Have you yourself experienced losing a flipper while scuba-diving? Henderson: I have. Crown Counsel: Can you tell this Court what happened to you? Henderson: My flipper came off. They were slightly too big for me. One came off, and like I said, equilibrium was upset, mobility was impaired, so I dropped my weight belt and surfaced.

Cross-examined by defence counsel, Henderson said that while there were no barnacles on the flipper when he found it, there were certain types of growth.

Mr Coomaraswamy: Like what? Henderson: I do not know the name. Mr coomaraswamy: How long would the thing have to be under water before barnacles grow? Henderson: I would say round about two to three weeks. Mr Coomaraswamy: Is it not correct that when you found the flipper it was in fact wedged in rocks? Henderson: It was not wedged or surrounded by rocks. Mr Coomaraswamy: What was the nature of the rocks at the place where you found this flipper? Were they high or undulating in between? Henderson: High, very different forms.

Having agreed roughly on the map the place where the flipper was found, defence counsel asked, “Would a thing like a flipper sink to the bottom?”

Henderson: This type would. Mr Coomaraswamy: You spoke of undertow. Henderson: I did. Mr Coomaraswamy: Would there be currents nearest the bed of the sea? Henderson: Yes. Mr Coomaraswamy: Would undertows form? Henderson: Yes, at various times. Mr Coomaraswamy: Would that undertow down move a flipper? Henderson: Not over a rough terrain.

Later, Henderson was asked about fitting on a flipper. He was asked if it were correct to say that the modern tendency is to put the feet first and then the heel. He agreed.

Mr Coomaraswamy: In other words, shoe-fitting? Henderson: Yes. Mr Coomaraswamy: What is the normal way? Henderson: First the foot, the heel and then stretch over the back of the heel. Mr Coomaraswamy: With what? Henderson: With the finger. Mr Coomaraswamy: Would you agree any other way would be difficult? Henderson: I cannot see any other way of doing it. Mr Coomaraswamy: More or less run your finger round the heel from the side? Henderson: Just below the back.

Defence counsel concluded his cross-examination by putting it to him that he did not find the flipper where he said he did. “I am telling the truth,” said Henderson.

Phang Sin Eng, a government chemist gave evidence that he received the green flipper from Inspector Richard Lui on 25 September 1963. He examined it under a microscope and found that the strap had two cuts. The cuts had been made, he said, by a knife, a razor or a pair of scissors.

Crown Counsel: Is it possible for these cuts to be the result of the strap being cut by coral? Phang Sin Eng: No, I think it is most unlikely. Crown Counsel: Why do you say that? Phang Sin Eng: For the following reasons. First of all the position of the cuts: one cut is from the top of the strap and the other is from the bottom of the strap. And under microscopic examination there was striation marking in both cases. The cut from the top of the strap has two directions: one direction is vertically down and then continues in another direction at a slight angle indicating two separate and independent actions in producing the cut from the top, one vertically down and one at an angle.

Cross-examined by defence counsel, the witness was asked, “If one were to pull the strap up with one’s fingers and put it over the arm like that (demonstrating) would that pressure be enough to break it?” “I don’t know,” said Phang Sin Eng.

Inspector Evan Yeo stepped into the witness-box on the afternoon of the seventh day of the trial and was questioned about a 61-page statement he took from Sunny Ang on 30 August 1963, three days after Jenny’s disappearance.

William Ang was called for cross-examination by the defence counsel during the morning and was rebuked by the judge for being impertinent. Crown counsel, re-examining, had asked him if Sunny Ang knew anything about cars.

Crown Counsel: Does he tinker with cars? Does he open up the bonnet and have a look at the car, generally tinkering with the car as a lot of people do? William Ang: He seldom does that. Crown Counsel: Does he know anything about cars? William Ang: I can’t read his mind. His Lordship: Don’t be impertinent. William Ang: I don’t understand him. His Lordship: It is a perfectly simple question. Try. William Ang: I suppose he knows a little.

The prosecution next called Maxime Bertrand, director of a firm which dealt in scuba-diving equipment, and an experienced scuba-diver with nine years’ experience in Singapore and Malayan waters. He gave evidence about the tests he had made at the request of the police in the Straits of Pulau Dua, and tests of home-made washers on an air-tank specified by the police. He said there was not a perceptible leak in his tests with his home-made washers. He told Mr Seow that if a novice should suddenly lose a flipper, and if there was a strong under-current the novice would surely feel alarmed. The situation would be very serious.

Inspector Evan Yeo, of the Special Investigation Section of the CID, said he interviewed Sunny Ang in the evening of 30 August 1963. Ang told him that when Jenny went down the second time she was wearing a pair of flippers belonging to a friend of his younger brother.

Crown Counsel: Did you ask Ang why he did not dive to see if he could find Jenny when she failed to surface? Inspector Yeo: I did. Crown Counsel: And did he give you any reply? Inspector Yeo: The answers he gave me are as follows. Firstly, his equipment was not serviceable. Secondly, he could not hold his breath for long and therefore he could not dive in those rather deep waters. Thirdly, he saw no point in diving when he failed to see Jenny’s air bubbles around the boat; and visibility in that depth was only a few feet. And fourthly that Jenny might have been attacked by sharks, according to him, and his instinct for self-preservation prevented him from going down.

The inspector said that Sunny Ang told him that he had paid about $500 on Jenny’s premiums, money borrowed from his father. The inspector said that, according to Ang, the extension of the policy on the day of Jenny’s disappearance was necessary as he and Jenny had intended to catch the mail train to Seremban, to drive back the car he had borrowed from Sidney Kong of Singapore.

Cross-examined by Mr Coomaraswamy, Inspector Yeo agreed that Jenny, according to Ang, had given Ang $600 later to settle the $500 loan taken by Ang from his father, and to pay other premiums on her insurance. The inspector told counsel that Deputy Superintendent Ong Kim Boon did most of the interrogation of Ang, though he was present.

Deputy Superintendent Ong, in charge of the SIS of the CID, said that, questioned several times in August and September, 1963, Ang told him that he was very friendly with Jenny and had intended to marry her. Ang told him about the insurance policies.