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Driver attacked in $1.5m phone robbery dies
Stephanie Yap
6 June 2006
Straits Times
English
(c) 2006 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
THE lorry driver who was bludgeoned for his $1.5 million
cellphone cargo died in hospital yesterday morning .
Mr Wan Cheon Kem's injuries were so severe that an eight-hour
operation to remove shards of his shattered skull could not
save
him, said family members.
Meanwhile, the last two of the 10 suspects in the case
surrendered to the police yesterday.
Mr Wan, 46, was attacked by robbers on May 30 while he was
driving along Changi Coast Road. He was found slumped on the
dashboard of his parked lorry at Pasir Ris Park.
His mother and siblings, who kept vigil by his side in the
past
week at Changi General Hospital, were still in shock when The
Straits Times spoke to them at his wake at Sin Ming Drive
last
night.
His brother Richard, 48, said: 'He never smoked, never drank.
He
has been working as a driver for more than 10 years with no
problem. Do you think being a driver sounds dangerous?'
Mr Wan, who was single, lived with his mother and a younger
sister in a flat in Pasir Ris. He was described as his
mother's
favourite and her constant companion.
Mr Richard Wan said of their mother: 'When she first heard
what
happened, she really couldn't take it. She cried a lot.'
At the wake last night, the widow in her 70s broke down at
her
son's coffin, and appeared to be whispering her last goodbyes
to
him as her four other children gathered protectively around
her.
Police say that two men - Nakamuthu Balakrishnan, 48, and
Arsan
Krishnasamy Govindarajoo, 38, who allegedly bashed Mr Wan on
the
head - may now face murder charges. They were initially
charged
with armed robbery before Mr Wan died.
Eight others have been arrested in connection with the
robbery.
Of these eight, two - both aged 23 - may also face murder
charges. The last to be arrested, the pair had evaded the law
for almost a week before they turned themselves in when
cornered
by police raids yesterday morning.
Of the other half dozen men, five could also face similar
charges pending investigations, while one has been arrested
but
not yet charged.
One of the 10 men was Mr Wan's colleague from the freight
forwarding company where he worked.
Ragu Ramajayam, 36, was charged on Friday with conspiracy to
rob. He is also accused of tipping off the robbers earlier
that
morning.
Another of Mr Wan's colleagues, a 36-year-old manager with
the
company who wanted to be known only as Mr Lim, spoke fondly
of
him as a cheerful, hardworking and helpful man, and said that
he
had appeared to be on good terms with Ramajayam.
However the case plays out, the dead man's family hopes that
the
punishments meted out will have a strong deterrent effect.
Said Mr Richard Wan: 'We want justice, and hope it is a
severe
punishment. This will set a precedent.'
[email protected] ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TRACY SUA AND LEONG
SU-LIN
SHOCKING 'He has been working as a driver for more than 10
years
with no problem. Do you think being a driver sounds
dangerous?'
MR RICHARD WAN, 48, brother of heist victim Wan Cheon
Kem
