Prosecution's case

On 31 March 2003, 41-year-old Soosainathan Dass Saminathan stood trial at the High Court for the murder of six-month-old Anjeli Elisaputri. The trial was presided by Justice Woo Bih Li of the High Court. Prominent criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan and his nephew Anand Nalachandran represented Soosainathan during the trial, while Ng Cheng Thiam was the trial prosecutor of the case.

One of the prosecution witnesses was Dr Gilbert Lau, a forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Anjeli's corpse. He stated that the cause of death was a severe head injury caused by a fall from a height, with primary impact upon the top of the head, which implied that Anjeli died due to her being thrown down the rubbish chute from Soosainathan's ninth-floor unit. Dr Lau also revealed that the hymen of the baby was torn, and there were bruises on the vaginal area and other parts of the body, which suggested that Anjeli was raped before she was killed.^[22][23][24] Dr Lau disagreed with Anandan's assertion that these injuries resulted from Widiyarti used too much force when rubbing her finger over Anjeli's private parts while showering instead of sexual assault. Dr Danny Lo Siaw Teck, a toxicologist from the Health Sciences Authority, found large doeses of chlorpheniramine and traces of diphenhydramine in the blood of the baby, and these substances were components of a cold medicine and cough medicine, and based on the testimony of Dr Singam S B, a polyclinic doctor, she had prescribed these medicines to Soosainathan when he came to her clinic to consult her for cough and cold on 17 June 2002 (a month before Anjeli's murder).^[25]

Dr Jasmine Heng, a forensic scientist, testified that based on forensic tests of the bloodstains at Soosainathan's bedroom, Dr Heng positively certified that the bloodstains belonged to the deceased baby girl. Another forensic scientist, Dr Lim Chin Chin, testified in court that the baby was bound in a hogtie from the back, and based on the knots of the white ligature tied around the baby, it suggested that the person who tied the baby was experienced in tying.^[26] Back in October 1997, Soosainathan formerly worked as a rigger at a shipyard and therefore, he had a lot of experience in tying knots, including the one tied around Anjeli when she was discovered dead. This was corroborated by Lee Hoong Cheong, the previous manager and employer of Soosainathan. These above evidences were circumstantial, and they were used by the prosecution to substantiate the murder charge against Soosainathan during the trial, and it was the prosecution's main contention that Soosainathan had taken the baby the night before the murder, and he drugged and raped the baby inside his bedroom before he hid it away and subsequently threw the baby down the rubbish chute while Widiyarti was outside looking for help and contacting the police.^[27]

Defence's case

However, during the trial, Soosainathan's lawyer Subhas Anandan sought to discredit the evidences of Widiyarti when she came to court to give her testimony. He stated that Widiyarti had the presence of mind to dispose of the fake Indonesian passport belonging to Jalil despite her great state of panic over the disappearance of her baby, showing that not only did she feared the legal consequences over the fake passport, she never wanted to get the police involved in the matter, which Widiyrati denied. In fact, Soosainathan had protested his innocence in the police statements, and claimed that on the night before the murder, he was awakened during his sleep and saw both Widiyarti and Jalil took the baby away while he was on the bed, which effectively fingered them as the ones who may have killed the child. Anandan also cross-examined the police officers, who conceded that Anjeli's parents were former suspects behind the crime, and Anandan also went on to argue that the baby's parents had the strong motive to kill the baby due to the alleged bad blood that formed between the couple after the birth of Anjeli, a fact which both Jalil and Widiyarti denied.^[28]

On the stand, Soosainathan elected to present his defence. His account however, differed on certain aspects from his police statements, as when he was awakened during his sleep, he stated he saw a person who may have resembled Jalil entering his room, and that same person took the baby away. Furthermore, Sosainathan even asserted it was the police that messed up the crime scene, and Widiyarti may have planted the bloodstained pillow into his bedroom, so as to direct the blame to him. The prosecution, in rebuttal, argued that Soosainathan was the one who killed Anjeli in light of the circumstantial evidence and his account about someone else taking away the girl was not true, and therefore sought a guilty verdict of murder.^[29][30]

Death penalty

On 15 July 2003, the trial judge Woo Bih Li delivered his verdict. In his verdict, Justice Woo found that Soosainathan had indeed raped and murdered the baby, as the circumstantial evidence against Soosainathan was sufficiently telling of his guilt for the offence charged. Firstly, Justice Woo pointed out that given the knot on the rope tied around the baby's limbs, it was clear that Soosainathan was the one who did it as corroborated by his experience of tying such knots in his past workplace at the shipyard. Secondly, the toxicological report had issued results that the victim's bloodstream contained both chlorpheniramine and diphenhydramine, which were the drugs prescribed to Soosainathan during his clinic visit the month before the murder, and it implied that Soosainathan could have fed these drugs to the baby with a "sinister purpose". Thirdly, the sexual injuries found on the baby was clear inference to the possibility that Soosainathan was responsible for the alleged rape of Anjeli.^[31]

Also, the judge found Widiyarti to be a truthful witness, and he dismissed the allegations about her possible involvement behind the death of the girl, and he also pointed out there were inconsistencies in Soosainathan's version of the events provided to both the police and court, which further made the judge to conclude that Soosainathan had fabricated his account to absolve himself of his guilt and hence, Justice Woo came to the conclusion that Soosainathan indeed committed the rape and murder of six-month-old Anjeli Elisaputri. As a result, 41-year-old Soosainathan Dass Saminathan was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to death.^[32][33][34]

Appeal

On 22 September 2003, two months after Soosainathan received the death penalty for murdering Anjeli, the Court of Appeal's three-judge panel - consisting of Chao Hick Tin, Lai Kew Chai and Chief Justice Yong Pung How - rejected his appeal against the conviction and sentence, on the basis that the circumstantial evidence was strong enough to lead to the "irresistible conclusion" that Soosainathan was responsible for the rape and murder of the baby. Subsequently, after he lost his appeal, Soosainathan's motion for presidential clemency was also rejected by then President of Singapore S R Nathan.^[35][36][37]

Execution

On 21 May 2004, one year and nine months after the rape and murder of Anjeli Elisaputri, 42-year-old Soosainathan Dass Saminathan was hanged in Changi Prison at dawn.^[38][39]