Got this interesting article from The Australian.
Nguyen executioner revealed
From: By Alan Shadrake
October 28, 2005
Smiling executioner...Singapore's chief hangman Darshan Singh The
hangman who will execute Australian drug trafficker Van Tuong
Nguyen in Singapore has been revealed as a semi-retired 73-year-old
grandfather.
In a matter of weeks, Darshan Singh will place a rope around the
25-year-old's neck and say the words he has spoken to more than 850
condemned prisoners during his 46 years as Singapore's chief
executioner.
"I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless
you."
Nguyen's hopes of escaping the gallows receded further yesterday
when the Singaporean Government confirmed that it would not make an
exception for the Australian.
Mr Singh has officially retired from the prison service but is
called upon to carry out executions, for which he receives a fee of
$S400 ($312).
Until now, his indentity has been a closely guarded secret in
Singapore.
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Officials rarely comment on capital punishment, which is carried
out without publicity behind the walls of Changi prison.
But The Australian can reveal today that the 73-year-old
grandfather, who lives in a modest, government-owned apartment near
the border with Malaysia, has been asked to execute Nguyen unless
the Singapore Government gives an unprecedented last-minute
reprieve.
Mr Singh told The Australian yesterday that under the Official
Secrets Act he was forbidden from speaking about his work.
A colleague and close friend, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, told The Australian that Mr Singh wanted to give up his
hangman's responsibilities and live quietly in retirement but the
authorities were having trouble finding anyone to replace
him.
"He tried to train two would-be hangmen to replace him, a Malaysian
and a Chinese, both in the prison service," the colleague
said.
"But when it came to pulling the lever for the real thing, they
both froze and could not do it.
"The Chinese guy, a prison officer, became so distraught he walked
out immediately and resigned from the prison service
altogether."
Nguyen will meet Mr Singh a few days before he is executed and will
be asked if he would like to donate his organs.
On the day before his execution, Mr Singh will lead him to a set of
scales close to his death-row cell to weigh him.
Mr Singh will use the Official Table of Drops, published by the
British Home Office in 1913, to calculate the correct length of
rope for the hanging.
On the day of Nguyen's execution, Mr Singh will be picked up by a
government vehicle and driven to the prison, arriving at 2am local
time (0400 AEST) to prepare the gallows.
Shortly before 6am, he will handcuff Nguyen's hands behind his back
and lead him on his final short walk to the gallows, just a few
metres from the cell.
Mr Singh joined the British colonial prison service in the
mid-1950s after arriving from Malaysia. When the long-established
British hangman Mr Seymour retired, Singh, then 27, volunteered for
the job. He was attracted by the bonus payment for
executions.
Mr Singh is credited with being the only executioner in the world
to single-handedly hang 18 men in one day -- three at a time.
They had been convicted of murdering four prison officers during a
riot on the penal island of Pulau Senang in 1963.
He also hanged seven condemned men within 90 minutes a few years
later. They had been convicted in what became known as the "gold
bars murders", in which a merchant and two employees were killed
during a robbery.
One of the most controversial executions in his career was the 1991
hanging of a young Filipina maid, Flor Contemplacion, who was
convicted of the murder of a co-worker, Delia Maga, and her
four-year-old son, on what many believed was shaky evidence.
He carries out the executions wearing simple casual clothes, often
just a T-shirt, shorts, sports shoes and knee-length socks.
To mark his 500th hanging four years ago, four of his former
colleagues turned up at his home to celebrate the event with a
couple of bottles of Chivas Regal.
Mr Singh boasts that he has never botched an execution.
"Mr Seymour taught him just how long the drop should be according
to weight and height and exactly where the knot should be placed at
the back of the neck," his colleague said.
"Death has always come instantaneously and painlessly. In that
split second, at precisely 6am, it's all over."
Mr Singh was an accomplished cricketer in his youth and was often
opening bat.
"He is a keen soccer fan," his colleague said. "His favourite team
is Manchester United. He watches all the English Premier League
matches he can."
When his colleague asked him why he had stayed so long in such a
gruesome job, he replied: "It's all I know. It has become my bread
and butter."
"He also used to cane convicted criminals after training in this
field," the colleague said.
"The pay then was 50cents per stroke. He could wield a cane as well
as he could wield a cricket bat."
Mr Singh lives happily with his second wife and is close to their
three adult adopted children.
His first wife left him years earlier because she could not accept
what he did. He had kept it a secret from her for years.
Mr Singh reportedly spends time getting to know the condemned
prisoners, especially those who do not receive visitors or
religious support.
"He is a very kindly man and although it's his job to end their
lives he does feel for them," his friend said. "Mr Singh tries to
comfort them if they are completely alone in the world at such a
horrible time