‘Now I can finally let it go’: Employee, relatives of Kovan double murder victims find some closure

For 12 years after the double murder of his boss and the elderly man’s son, a mechanic continued buying newspapers daily, hoping to read about the killer’s execution.

When it happened at last, he felt he could finally let go of his pain.

On July 10, 2013, then 34-year-old police senior staff sergeant Iskandar Rahmat stabbed Mr Tan Boon Sin, 67, and his son, Mr Tan Chee Heong, 42, during a botched robbery attempt at the older man’s home in Hillside Drive in Kovan estate.

Iskandar was convicted of the double murder and hanged on Feb 5, two days after his 46th birthday.

The older Mr Tan ran a car workshop in Kaki Bukit, which is now run by his daughter Josephine Tan Siew Ling, 52, a former engineer.

Their long-time mechanic, who wanted to be known only as Ah Siong, 66, said he had been looking forward to Iskandar’s execution.

Speaking to The Straits Times on Feb 6, Ah Siong held back tears when reminiscing about his former boss, whom he called his benefactor. 

He said in Mandarin: “We’ve waited a long time for this day. It has been more than a decade since the incident. I buy the newspapers every day to see if he has been punished.”

He said that over the years, many of the workshop’s customers would ask if Iskandar had been dealt with. They messaged him when news of the execution broke. 

Ah Siong, who has been working there since he was 21, said: “I’m relieved. I have been carrying this issue with me in my heart for the past decade.

“Now, I can finally let it go.”

He said the older Mr Tan treated his staff and customers well.

“He was such an easy-going person. That might have been his undoing, that he did not guard himself against others,” Ah Siong said.

For Ms Tan, she is reminded of the tragedy during festive seasons at the sight of less cutlery at the dining table.

“Every Chinese New Year seems so different from the day it happened. The feeling hasn’t changed,” she said.

“You have missing bowls and chopsticks. The mood is totally different.”

Ms Tan said the Criminal Investigation Department informed her of Iskandar’s execution before it happened.

She said it offered some closure for their family, but added: “It’s his life, not my life. (I have) really nothing much to comment about it.”

Seated in the office of her father’s car workshop, Ms Tan said she took over the business after his death.

“It’s my father’s legacy, so continuing it is my duty,” she said. 

The one-man office cubicle has been kept exactly as her father had left it.

Three of his photographs are still on the wall, including one of him at the workshop with his arms crossed, smiling.

Ms Tan has another brother.

The family regularly visit their mother, Madam Ong Ah Tang, who continues to live in the house.

One of their neighbours, who declined to be named, told ST that Madam Ong seemed to be coping well.

He added that the widow is on good terms with her neighbours and gave his children red packets over Chinese New Year.

Ms Tan visits the niches of her father and elder brother on their birthdays and festive occasions to pray.

Her brother’s sons were aged three and 10 when their father died.

Ms Tan, who has a 19-year-old daughter, said: “They don’t have a father, so I’m standing in. I told them, ‘If you want to treat me as a father, as a mother, also can’.”

The family does not talk about the past, and her brother’s children no longer ask questions about it.

But her voice wavered as she said: “I appear like I’m very fine, but deep down, it’s very different.”

Iskandar, who was a police officer for 14 years, was facing imminent bankruptcy in 2013.

He hatched a plan to steal from the older Mr Tan after finding a police report the latter had made regarding a case of theft from his safe deposit box, which indicated he had kept a large sum of cash in it. 

Iskandar convinced him to remove his money from the box so that a camera could be placed inside.

After accompanying him to his terrace house, Iskandar stabbed and slashed him 27 times. 

He also attacked the victim’s son who entered the house later.

The younger Mr Tan’s body was dragged under Iskandar’s getaway car for around 1km before it was dislodged, leaving a trail of blood.

Iskandar was caught at a seafood restaurant in Johor Bahru, two days after fleeing Singapore.

Throughout his trial, he insisted the elderly man had attacked him first with a knife and that he had reacted in self-defence.

He also claimed Mr Tan’s son had charged at him with clenched fists, forcing him to retaliate. 

The prosecution argued that Iskandar had planned to kill both men, pointing to the multiple knife wounds they suffered – mostly in the vital areas of the head, neck and chest.

Ah Siong said: “Now that the case has finally concluded, I hope he (the older Mr Tan) can rest in peace. There’s no chance to speak to him any more.”

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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