A last sunrise, then a day of farewells
Email Print Normal font Large font By Connie Levett and Steve
Butcher, Singapore
December 1, 2005
NGUYEN Tuong Van will see his last sunrise today. By the time the
sun breaks the South China Sea horizon and touches Changi Prison
tomorrow, the 25-year-old Australian will be dead.
In Singapore they say "hanged at dawn", but in fact Nguyen will go
to gallows at 6am, before sunrise.
Today will be the long goodbye, with final visits from his close
friends Kelly Ng and Bronwyn Lew, and painful farewells with his
mother Kim and twin brother Khoa.
Who Nguyen Tuong Van sees on his last day is very much in his own
hands. He will be allowed at least four hours of outside
visits.
His Australian lawyers, Lex Lasry, QC, and Julian McMahon, are
expected to make a final visit, with Nguyen's Singaporean
barrister, Joseph Theseira . Now based in Melbourne, Mr Theseira
said he was returning to Singapore last night to fulfil a promise
to his client.
There are other matters Nguyen must face today. He will receive a
visit in his cell from the hangman, still expected to be Darshan
Singh despite questionable claims this week from the 74-year-old
that he had been sacked.
"Darshan Singh has not been 'sacked' and continues to be a contract
officer engaged by the Prisons Department. There is no change to
his status," the department said in a statement.
The executioner will weigh Nguyen to calculate the precise length
of rope needed to break his neck when the trapdoor drops from under
him.
Visiting hours finish at 5pm. What to do in the remaining time?
Pray and write, say those closest to him.
When Nguyen's appeal was dismissed last October, his mother said
outside the court: "He is good, he is always praying."
Today Nguyen, a Catholic and prolific letter writer, is expected to
pray and keep penning words of comfort and farewell. Nguyen has
told his friends he is determined to answer as many of his
supporters' letters as possible.
Prison chaplain Gregoire Van Giang, who will accompany Nguyen to
the gallows, will spend time with him. Prison officials will
prepare a special evening meal for him.
"They find out details of the person's tastes," said M. Ravi, a
human rights lawyer who has defended other men on death row. "They
will find out if you like extra garam masala in your curry, that
sort of detail."
Outside the prison tonight, Nguyen's family, friends and supporters
are expected to attend vigils in his honour.
Madam Lechumi, the mother of Nguyen's late death-row neighbour
Shanmugam Murugesu, will say prayers for her son and Nguyen at
midnight. Shanmugam, in his last days, asked that though he was
sure to die, his family do everything they could to stop Nguyen's
execution.
At 2am, a prisons car will collect the hangman from his home. At
4am, a prison guard will knock on Nguyen's door to rouse him if he
is sleeping.
"They will offer him breakfast but whether he can eat is another
question," Mr Ravi said.
He will bathe a final time before he is handcuffed and takes the
short walk from his cell to the gallows inside the prison.
After the execution, an autopsy will be performed to establish the
cause of death. Mrs Nguyen must collect her son's body by 1pm or
the Singaporean authorities will cremate him.
The Australian high commission is expected to arrange the return of
his body to Melbourne.
At lunchtime, the family plan to attend a church service to
commemorate Nguyen's life. They will fly out of Singapore, probably
tomorrow evening. They will have no reason to stay.
