Singapore to hang Indian man for Filipina’s murder

SINGAPORE—An Indian shipyard worker will be hanged after a Singapore court on Wednesday gave him the death penalty for the 2010 murder of a Filipina woman, local media reported.

Bijukumar Remadevi Nair Gopinathan, 36, was convicted of the murder of Roselyn Reyes Pascua and was handed the mandatory death penalty by a district court judge.

Justice Choo Han Teck said the prosecution had proved its case against Gopinathan beyond a reasonable doubt, the Straits Times reported.

Pascua’s body was found inside a hotel room in March 2010. She had been stabbed several times.

The Straits Times said Gopinathan did not deny stabbing the 30-year-old victim during his trial but argued that he was provoked, adding that she had solicited him for sex.

Local media reports said Gopinathan was caught with Pascua’s mobile phone and some bloodstained money when he was arrested three days after the killing.

His DNA was also found on items in the room where Pascua’s body was found, including a bra, a pair of denim hot pants and a brown wallet, the reports said.

Capital punishment in Singapore is carried out by hanging, a legacy of the British colonial rule.

Human rights groups have criticized Singapore for maintaining the death penalty and say mandatory capital punishment for certain crimes, such as murder and drug trafficking, leave judges with no room for discretion.

But authorities argue the death penalty is necessary to maintain Singapore’s record as one of the safest cities in the world.