Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock by Alan Shadrake

Author:Alan Shadrake [Shadrake, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: True Crime, Non Fiction, Singapore
Published: 2010-07-14T14:00:00+00:00

14

The Maid Singapore Could Not Hang

When Filipina maid Guen Aguilar appeared in court on 15 September 2005 charged with one of the most gruesome murders in Singapore history, the diplomatic turn-out from her country's embassy astounded everyone. The ambassador, Belen Anota, flanked by top diplomatic officials and prominent members of the Filipino community filed into the courtroom. Other Filipinos, mostly young domestic workers and labourers packed the public gallery and stood in groups around the courthouse. Two of Manila's biggest television stations sent camera crews and another dozen print writers and photographers arrived to cover the proceedings. Their numbers were swelled by international wire services including AFP, AP, Reuters and representatives from the local media such as The Straits Times, Today and The New Paper.

Guen Aguilar was facing death by hanging for the murder of her close friend Jane La Puebla, a fellow maid from her home town. But in Manila and across the Filipino diaspora her execution would be regarded almost as an act of war. Her seemingly inevitable ghastly end had all the makings of yet another 'trial of the century' in her country and it sent shock waves through Singapore's corridors of power and fury in the Philippines. It was a particularly ominous sign, and with good cause. Although it was almost ten years since another Filipina maid had been found guilty of two murders and hanged, everyone remembers the name: Flor Contemplacion. Her execution sparked political upheaval in the Philippines and a bitter diplomatic row resulting in a huge backlash against Singapore which still resonates to this day. Even when the atmosphere thawed things were never quite the same again. Despite the ghastliness of Jane La Puebla's murder, the immediate message from Manila was clear. When Guen Aguila, a 29 year-old mother of two, appeared in court to be formally charged a huge crowd waving placards was already demonstrating outside the Singapore embassy in Manila demanding that this time a fair trial would be held for their fellow citizen. It was an early warning signal to Singapore. The atmosphere was getting tense again.

Exactly why Aguilar killed her friend never came out at her trial. Some unconfirmed reports said they quarrelled over money. Another said it was over a love triangle with a Singapore taxi driver. The hunt for the killer began when dismembered parts of a woman's body were found in various part of the city. Arms and legs were found in bags in and around an Orchard Road shopping centre. Then a woman's partly clad torso was found at McRitchie Reservoir, a beauty spot popular with joggers, picnickers and tourists. It puzzled detectives that Aguilar would kill and dismember her close friend then dump her body parts where everyone could see them. Back home the case made garish headlines but everyone from the president down was determined Aguilar got a fair trial and would not be cast aside and executed by Singapore as just another 'havoc maid'.

This time the authorities in Singapore and the Philippines

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