Introduction
Angel Mou Pui-peng, a 25-year-old unmarried mother, was hanged in Changi Prison before dawn on Friday the 6th of January 1995.
She became the 95th person (and third woman) to hang under Singapore’s strict 1975 anti-drug laws.
Cheuk Mei-mei, 29, also from Hong Kong, was executed in 1994, and another three women were executed for drug trafficking in 1995, including two who were only 18 at the time of their crime.
Altogether, 30 people were hanged in Singapore for drug trafficking in 1995, with a further six men and one woman (Flor Contemplacion) being hanged for murder.
Although there have been more female executions for murder, only one other woman was hanged for drug offences between the end of 1995 and 2004 (Navarat Maykha, a Thai national, was executed in September 1996), illustrating the strict sentencing examined in our survey of capital punishment in the British Commonwealth.
Singapore’s Drug Laws
Under Singapore law, the death sentence is mandatory for anyone over 18 convicted of trafficking in more than 15 grams (half an ounce) of pure heroin, 30 grams (one ounce) of morphine, or 500 grams (18 oz.) of cannabis.
Prisoners have an automatic right of appeal to the Court of Appeal and, if that fails, may petition the President of Singapore for executive clemency.
However, death sentences are virtually always carried out.
I know of only one case where a reprieve was granted—to a Burmese man who was completely illiterate and clearly had no idea that he was committing a crime.
Arrest and Trial
Arrest at Changi Airport
Angel was arrested at Singapore’s Changi Airport on August the 29th, 1991, after arriving on a flight from Bangkok, Thailand.
Her suitcase was found by officers of the Central Narcotics Bureau to contain 20 packets concealed in a false bottom, totaling over 4.1 kg of heroin.
Defence Claim
At her trial, she claimed she did not know the false-bottom suitcase contained heroin and thought she was carrying contraband watches instead.
She was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1993.
As is usual in Singapore, both of her subsequent legal appeals were rejected by the courts.
Temporary Stay of Execution
However, she was granted a temporary stay of execution on the 22nd of December 1994, apparently to allow her family to visit her over Christmas, following an emotional plea by her mother and nine-year-old son.
She had originally been scheduled to hang on Friday the 23rd of December 1994 alongside two Singaporean drug traffickers.
Final Days and Execution
Last Moments
On the eve of her execution, her lawyer Peter Yap said that she was:
“normal and calm”
when he visited her.
He stated that she:
“was emotionally stable and prepared to die. Spiritually she was very strong.”
He also said Angel was greatly comforted by the formal settlement of legal guardianship for her young son.
Execution Procedure
The day before her execution, she would have been weighed by Singapore’s long-serving executioner, Darshan Singh, to enable the calculation of the correct drop distance under the evolution of the long drop in the 20th century.
The British Home Office 1913 table of drops is still utilized in Singapore.
Unusually, Angel was executed entirely on her own due to the earlier temporary stay of execution.
At about 5:30 a.m., she would have been escorted by her prison guards to a waiting room to be prepared.
Shortly before 6:00 a.m., her hands were handcuffed behind her back and a black cloth hood was placed over her head.
She was then led the few metres to the gallows at 6:00 a.m. local time.
Her legs were strapped together and the leather-covered hemp noose was placed around her neck.
Darshan Singh then told her:
“I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless you.”
The lever was pulled, and the trapdoors opened beneath her feet.
Aftermath and Cremation
After the execution, her body was returned to her relatives.
She was cremated in the early evening at Mount Vernon Crematorium following a short Christian service attended by her family and close friends.
“Our sister Angel has now been taken to heaven – a place we will go and we shall hope to see her there one day,”
an elderly pastor, speaking in Cantonese, told the small congregation of some 25 people.
“When are you coming back to Hong Kong?”
a young woman cried in Cantonese as she, Angel’s sister Cecilia, and several others watched the coffin, covered in black velvet, disappear into the furnace.
Her father, who had reportedly reconciled with his daughter during her brief Christmas stay of execution, broke down uncontrollably after the cremation concluded.
International Reaction
Because Macau was an overseas Portuguese province at the time, President of Portugal Mário Soares and the Portuguese government launched formal diplomatic appeals for clemency on the grounds of Angel’s youth and the fact that she was merely a courier.
However, according to Portuguese diplomatic officials, Singapore stated firmly that it could not differentiate between foreign nationals and its own citizens.
The Governor of Macau expressed deep sorrow and called the execution “revolting,” the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported.
“For someone like me who is a citizen of a country that takes a pride in being one of the first that abolished capital punishment, the loss of human life is something that is incomprehensible and even revolting,”
Lusa quoted Governor Rocha Vieira Vasco as saying in a condolence message sent to Angel’s mother, reflecting the European human rights stance outlined in the end of capital punishment in Europe.
Chris Patten, who was at the time the Governor of Hong Kong, stated that the British administration in the colony had fully supported a diplomatic plea for clemency put forward jointly by Great Britain and the European Union.
Analytical Commentary
Does this seem a sadly familiar story: the teenage girl who is at loggerheads with her parents and becomes pregnant at 16?
She inevitably drifts into poverty and petty crime, becoming an easy target for exploitation by syndicates that make fortunes from the international narcotics trade.
Sadly, she was dispatched as a carrier to one of the few countries in the world that has no compunction about executing young women, as seen in other female capital cases like Sandra Smith in South Africa.
Whilst I accept that she was legally guilty, I doubt somehow that she was evil, but rather think her motive was purely the small sum of cash she hoped to earn had she succeeded.
Whether one feels that individuals should suffer death for narcotics trafficking is another question, but at least, unlike so many jurisdictions, Singapore enforces death sentences even-handedly, without discriminating on grounds of gender, race, or social standing above the legal age threshold of 18.
As usual, the Singaporean government refused to bow to external diplomatic pressure from Portugal, Hong Kong, and the European Union.
However, many people feel that the death penalty is an extreme sanction for merely carrying narcotics, where couriers (“mules”) receive negligible financial compensation while criminal kingpins operate safely from luxury estates.
Equally, there are many who admire Singapore’s unbending stance on crime, which has contributed to making it one of the safest and most prosperous nations in the world.
Most Singaporeans support their rigorous legal statutes, and executions generally warrant only a paragraph or two in the local press, if mentioned at all.
Why is it that even in countries like Singapore and Malaysia individuals are not deterred from high-stakes drug crimes by the death penalty, as debated in deterrence and the death penalty?
Are they reckless, desperate for money, or do they convince themselves that they will never be caught?
Angel may or may not have known the exact contents of the packages, but even taking her defence at face value, she knew she was engaged in smuggling, which in itself would have attracted a lengthy prison sentence in Singapore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Angel Mou Pui-peng?
Angel Mou Pui-peng was a 25-year-old unmarried mother from Macau and Hong Kong who was arrested at Singapore’s Changi Airport in August 1991 carrying 4.1 kg of heroin. She was convicted of drug trafficking and hanged at Changi Prison on January 6, 1995.
What is the threshold for capital punishment for drug trafficking in Singapore?
Under Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, the death sentence is mandatory for anyone over the age of 18 convicted of trafficking in more than 15 grams of pure diamorphine (heroin), 30 grams of morphine, or 500 grams of cannabis.
Why was Angel Mou Pui-peng granted a stay of execution?
Originally scheduled to be executed on December 23, 1994, she received a temporary stay of execution on December 22 following an appeal by her mother and nine-year-old son, allowing her family to visit her in prison over Christmas.
Who was the executioner for Angel Mou Pui-peng?
She was executed by Singapore’s long-time chief executioner, Darshan Singh, who calculated her drop using the British Home Office 1913 table of drops and officiated on the gallows at Changi Prison.
What international appeals were made on her behalf?
Portuguese President Mário Soares, the Portuguese government, Macau Governor Rocha Vieira Vasco, and Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten (backed by the United Kingdom and the European Union) all appealed to the Singaporean government for clemency, though all petitions were rejected.
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