TUONG Van Nguyen will be allowed to order a takeaway meal to
the value of $8 as a last grim treat before he is hanged on
Friday. A strict price was put on a prisoner's final meal, former
Changi warders said.
"The prisoner's last meal could be anything, but it had a specific
price and that was up to $S10," said a death row officer who
retired about three years ago.
Such a takeaway meal could include a hamburger, chips, desert and
jumbo soft drink; or roast duck and noodles.
Nguyen's last meal will be served tomorrow night, just hours before
he is hanged at 6am on Friday (9am Melbourne time).
The condemned Melbourne drug trafficker will also have the choice
of usual prison fare Malay, Singaporean, Chinese, or even
European food.
Friends Bronwyn Lew and Kelly Ng, who visited Nguyen yesterday,
said he was remarkably composed.
Ms Lew said he told them: "If you're going to cry, please cry in
front of me so that we can through this together."
The friends joined Nguyen's mother Kim and twin brother Khoa for
the death-row visit.
They were able to pass on letters, photos and CDs from
supporters.
Again they were separated from Nguyen by glass, but Foreign Affairs
Minister Alexander Downer has implored Singapore to allow Mrs
Nguyen to hug her son before he dies.
Providing a macabre backdrop to farewells for 25-year-old Nguyen
were comments by Singapore hangman Darshan Singh.
Singh said if he carries out the execution it will be quick and
efficient.
"With me, they don't struggle. I know the real way," he said.
"If it's a raw guy (an untried hangman), they will struggle like
chickens, like fish out of the water," Mr Singh said at his
spacious apartment, as his baby granddaughter played at his
feet.
Mr Singh, 74, has carried out more than 800 executions in 45
years.
But it has not been confirmed he will execute Nguyen, sentenced to
death after being caught at Singapore airport in 2002 with nearly
400 grams of heroin.
Mr Singh said on Sunday he had been sacked by jail authorities
after his identity was revealed.
But Singapore's prison department said yesterday Mr Singh had not
been fired and was still a contract officer.
Officials would not confirm whether Mr Singh or a replacement would
undertake the grim task for a standard fee of $320.
Mr Singh said he had developed close relationships with some
condemned prisoners.
"They became my friends and wanted me to hang them. One of the
fellows even asked me to give him his final haircut," he
said.
Murderers and drug-traffickers deserved to die, Mr Singh said, and
their punishment was a means of "complete rehabilitation".
"I'm changing their character to a different one because I believe
in rebirth and they will be better men next time."
Foreign Affairs Minister Downer said the hangman's comments were
completely inappropriate and he should keep them to himself.
Nguyen's lawyer Lex Lasry said the debate about who would execute
Nguyen and the efficiency of hanging techniques was
grotesque.
"It adds a bizarre feature to what is already a shocking
injustice," he said. "It's revolting, frankly. If our client must
die I want him to die a painless death."
One former Changi officer said a typical death cell comprised a mat
on the concrete floor where the prisoner slept, a toilet and a
sink.
"No windows, just a barred door," he said.
He said the gallows were about 100m from the cell block, and when
asked to describe the scaffolding, he said: "Something out of an
old Western movie."
What kind of tar-pau meal can S$10 buy nowadays? At most Nguyen
will only be able to order hawker food or some fast food.
source: otr forum
