Murder of Iordanka Apostolova

On 13 January 1998, a Bulgarian student named Iordanka

Apostolova, alias Tamia Pachinko, was discovered dead in a Iordanka Apostolova
canal at Tanah Merah Ferry Road, Singapore. Investigations led to Born Iordanka Apostolova
the police to arrest one male suspect, who was Iordanka’s friend Apostolova
while another man surrendered himself to the police. The two men 1972
were charged with her murder and later hanged in 1999. A third Bulgaria
accomplice, the wife of one of the executed men who helped
Died 11 January 1998
concealing the evidence of the murder and for failing to report the
crime to the authorities, was subsequently imprisoned for six years Tanah Merah Ferry
by the courts.[1] Road, Singapore
Cause of Murder
death
Contents Resting Bulgaria
place
Discovery of victim and investigations
Nationality Bulgarian
Trial of Shaiful Edham Adam and Norishyam
Mohamed Ali Other names
Dani
The prosecution's case
Tamia Pachinko
The defence's case
Verdict Education A computer course
in a Singaporean
Trial of Hezlinda A. Rahman
school
Execution of the murderers
Occupation Student
Aftermath
Known for Murder victim
See also
References

Discovery of victim and

investigations
On 13 January 1998, 56-year-old You Ah
Kam was fishing at the canal near Tanah
Merah Ferry Road when he fished out the
dead body of a Caucasian young woman,
who had her legs tied to a heavy sack. The
woman was also found wearing a shirt that
has badges pinned to it, indicating her as a
Iordanka Apostolova
boxing fan. Due to this, she was later
identified as 26-year-old Iordanka
Apostolova Apostolova (or simply, Iordanka
Apostolova; alias Tamia Pachinko, nicknamed Dani), a Bulgarian student who first came to study in
Singapore in October 1996.[2]
The police were contacted and forensic pathologist Chao Tzee Cheng was called to conduct an autopsy on
Apostolova. Professor Chao ascertained that the victim has died a slow and painful death, as he found
multiple incised wounds on the woman's neck which were caused by a sharp object slicing her neck, and
these wounds could cause slow bleeding that would result in death due to excessive loss of blood. The
death, Professor Chao found, was escalated by the woman being drowned after being thrown into the
canal, as Apostolova's lungs contained around 600 millilitres of water, meaning that she breathed in water
while she was underwater in the canal; in other words, Apostolova was still barely alive at the time she was
thrown into the canal after being knifed, and she was at most, merely unconscious at the time her body was
disposed.[3]

Meanwhile, the police, led by Richard Lim Beng Gee, investigated and found a receipt within the area near
the canal. It was traced back to a petrol station where CCTV footage showed two Malay men purchasing
the contents shown on the receipt. Coincidentally, Apostolova's acquaintances told police that Apostolova
were close friends with a Malay man,[4] who was later identified as 22-year-old Shaiful Edham bin
Adam (he was one of the two Malay men captured in the CCTV footage). The police also found that
Apostolova was trading commodities with Shaiful, and was a client of the firm where Shaiful worked as a
trade director. For this, Shaiful, then married to 23-year-old Hezlinda binte A. Rahman and a father to one
newborn daughter named Nur Esteela Marthia, was called in for questioning on 15 January 1998. Shaiful
later confessed to police that he indeed killed Apostolova on 11 January 1998. Kevin Walter Hector,
Shaiful's employer who rented his Depot Road flat to Shaiful and his family, also found bloodstains in the
flat which were later tested and matched the DNA of Apostolova.

Soon after his confession, Shaiful was charged with murder on 19 January 1998.[5] Two days later, after
confessing to his uncle and parents that he helped Shaiful to dispose Apostolova's body, 26-year-old
Norishyam s/o Mohamed Ali (the other man in the CCTV footage), a friend of Shaiful from his two-year
mandatory training at National Service (NS), surrendered himself to the police and told police about his role
in the murder. Norishyam was then charged with murder on 22 January 1998.[6] Both Shaiful and
Norishyam would stand trial together for Apostolova's murder in late July 1998.

Trial of Shaiful Edham Adam and Norishyam Mohamed Ali

The prosecution's case

On 29 July 1998, Shaiful Edham bin Adam and Norishyam s/o

Mohamed Ali stood trial in the High Court of Singapore for the
murder of Iordanka Apostolova. Lawyer Peter Fernando
represented Norishyam while James Bahadur Masih was in charge
of defending Shaiful.

The prosecution's case was based on the police statements given

Shaiful Edham bin Adam, the first
accused who allegedly planned to kill
Apostolova beforehand
by Shaiful and Norishyam. In their statements, the men admitted
that Apostolova died due to Shaiful cutting Apostolova's throat
using a parang, and they had disposed of the body in the canal
with Hezlinda's help, and even bought items to ensure that the
body remained underwater while using the rest to clean up the flat.
Also, the prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP)
Francis Tseng, charged that the two men shared a common
intention to kill Apostolova, since they acted together in ensuring
her death and disposing of her body. It was also revealed that
Shaiful had planned to murder Apostolova all along, as he and
Apostolova originally planned to buy a Toyota car (which was
owned by Shaiful's second employer Eric Tan), and Apostolova, per their agreement, transferred around
$40,000 from her bank account as down-payment, but due to the deal which might incur losses on
Apostolova's part, Apostolova kept pestering at Shaiful over the issues, which made Shaiful gradually
annoyed at the harassment and eventually wanted to kill her.

After Professor Chao Tzee Cheng took the stand and presented his autopsy findings, the defence counsel of
the two men tried to argue that although the wounds were inflicted to kill Apostolova, the two men
genuinely believed that Apostolova has died from the parang attack, and never knew she was alive when
they disposed her body. As for the prosecution's arguments that Shaiful had long before planned the
murder, Shaiful's colleague, Mohammed Noor bin Rahmat (alias Bobby), came to court as a witness and
testify about a phone call conversation between him and Shaiful, in which Shaiful tried to get him involved
in the murder by offering him S$14,000, and Mohammed Noor rejected Shaiful's offer, calling him not to
do something stupid and feeling he was crazy. The phone call was made in the presence of Shaiful's
employers Erickson Pereira and Kevin Hector, and both Pereira and Hector confirmed about the
conversation between Hector and Shaiful. Still, Shaiful's lawyer James Masih tried to raise doubts over
Mohammed Noor's credibility by suggesting that due to Mohammed Noor owed Shaiful some money and
gold and given his alleged annoyance at Shaiful's demands to return the cash, Mohammed Noor fabricated
his story about the phone call conversation.

Michael Gan, a car dealer, was another witness who got knowledge of Shaiful's plan to kill the Bulgarian
student, as he told the court that Shaiful asked him to look for a professional killer to help kill someone who
showed interest in his wife; this conversation was confirmed by Koh Tee Hong and Koh Tee Yang, who
knew Gan through the car purchase deal and heard about Shaiful's murder plot from Gan. Masih tried to
paint Gan as a liar who lied about Shaiful's plan to murder Apostolova in order to get revenge at Shaiful for
the failed deal to sell the car and loss of his commission for the car.

The defence's case

When Shaiful went up the stand to give his evidence, while he recounted the friendship he shared with
Apostolova, he stated that on the day of Apostolova's murder, he and Apostolova argued about the disputes
in the deal to sell the car, and during the argument, Apostolova allegedly threatened to call her "foreign
friends" (referring to the Mafia, presumably) to use force to settle the issues, and this escalated into
vulgarities and Apostolova using a knife to fight Shaiful; Shaiful claimed that the knife wound he made on
Apostolova's neck during their struggle was accidental, and he initially wanted to call for an ambluance but
Apostolova said she did not want to as she did not want to get Shaiful into trouble. It so happened that,
from Shaiful's account, Norishyam was already in the flat, due to Shaiful inviting him for a drink and
offering S$7,000 for Norishyam's wedding plans. After asking for a drink and laid down on the floor,
Apostolova, still bleeding, asked to end her life to not die a painful death from her wound, which led to
Shaiful enlisting his guest Norishyam's help to kill Apostolova by telling Norishyam to cut Apostolova's
neck before disposing her in the canal.[7][8]

Norishyam however, gave a different account: he stated that he was offered S$7,000 to help Shaiful kill
Apostolova. He stated that he had no wedding plans at the time, and Shaiful asked him to help kill
Apostolova. He stated he came there to try to dissuade Shaiful from committing murder and did not want to
accept the money. Upon entering the flat, he saw Apostolova already on the floor, bleeding from the wound
while still alive, and he tried to leave, but Shaiful told him that he was already involved. Norishyam said
that out of fear towards Shaiful, he helped push the cushion on her face and held her legs down while
Shaiful brought the parang down on Apostolova's neck. He stated that he did not kill Apostolova, and only
helped Shaiful to dispose of the body with Hezlinda's help. Norishyam also demonstrated to the court how
Shaiful used the parang to hack Apostolova's throat.[9][10][11]
Hezlinda supported her husband's testimony and also placed the
full blame of the crime on Norishyam as she went on stand to give
her evidence; she was not yet charged for her role in the murder at
this point. However, she admitted under DPP Tseng's questioning
that she would lie to save her husband from the death penalty,
which was a fatal mistake as it affected both her and Shaiful's
credibility, which indirectly led to him sentenced to
hang.[12][13][14]

Verdict

On 14 August 1998, High Court judge Kan Ting Chiu delivered

his verdict. He found both Shaiful and Norishyam guilty of murder
and sentenced both of them to death. Norishyam s/o Mohamed Ali, the
second accused whose defence was
Reasoning first why he convicted Shaiful of murder, Justice Kan he only helped dispose the victim's
stated that there was evidence to back up the theory that Shaiful body, not to kill Apostolova
had offered money to Norishyam to help him in killing
Apostolova, and there was no regular contact maintained between
both men since their days together while serving National Service. Shaiful’s claim that the first slash wound
was accidental was inconsistent with the pathologist’s evidence that the injury to the front of the neck was
caused by slicing; Norishyam also confirmed that Shaiful sliced Apostolova’s neck by running the parang
blade against the neck. He also stated that Shaiful clearly had the intent to cause Apostolova’s death over
their unsettled issues, and there was no reason for the witnesses like Mohammed Noor, Michael Gan and
others to lie to further frame Shaiful for the murder since he at times, expressed to them his intentions and
plot to kill Apostolova, and they were truthful in their testimony.

As for why Norishyam was guilty of murder, Justice Kan gave a longer explanation, telling Norishyam that
he, as what he admitted earlier, knew about Shaiful’s plan to murder Apostolova prior to leaving his home
to meet him at Depot Road. Justice Kan said that if Norishyam had genuinely intended to dissuade Shaiful
from proceeding with his plan, he should have made a choice to leave the flat, which he in fact did so and
was alone at the ground floor after that, before deciding to return to Shaiful’s flat. After his return, not only
did Norishyam never stop Shaiful from assaulting Apostolova, he even helped hold down Apostolova's
legs and prevent her from making sounds while Shaiful used the parang on the victim. He even actively
participated in cleaning the flat and helping the couple to dispose of Apostolova's body in a canal in Tanah
Merah Ferry Road. Since he acted in accordance with Shaiful's intention to cause Apostolova's death,
Norishyam should be held responsible for committing Apostolova's murder.[15]

Also, even though Apostolova's neck wounds were not fatal enough to grant an immediate death, they
shared the common intention to cause her death and inflicting fatal neck wounds on her to kill her, and
although the disposal of the victim's body in the water was responsible for escalating her process to death
and was done under the mistaken belief that she died, it did not downplay the intention of the duo to
murder Apostolova. Therefore, the judge ruled that the men were to be held liable to murder convictions
and hence imposed the mandatory death sentences on the two of them.[16]

Trial of Hezlinda A. Rahman

On 21 September 1998, Hezlinda binte A. Rahman was arrested and charged in the district courts of
Singapore with abetting her husband and Norishyam to dispose Apostolova’s corpse, and also for not
reporting the murder to the police. Given that she was not involved in the planning to kill Apostolova and
executing the murder itself, Hezlinda was not liable to a capital murder charge unlike her husband and
Norishyam. The couple’s daughter was entrusted to the care of their relatives while they were undergoing
court proceedings.[17]

On 29 January 1999, Hezlinda was found guilty and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. Senior district
judge Richard Magnus, in sentencing Hezlinda, called her “wicked” and her conduct “reprehensible” as he
referred to the cold blooded nature of her crime and her active role as lookout while her husband killed
Apostolova.[18][19][20]

Execution of the murderers

After being sentenced to death, both Shaiful and Norishyam appealed against their sentences. Both men
reused their defences and arguments made in their trial to ask the Court of Appeal of Singapore to review
their cases and convictions.

However, the judges - Chief Justice Yong Pung How, Judge of Appeal L P Thean and High Court judge
Tan Lee Meng - found that the evidence against the two men were indicative of the common intention
between them to commit the murder and no error in the trial judge's observations and ruling; and having
cited past murder cases involving the concept of common intention, they decided to dismiss the appeals of
Shaiful and Norishyam on 11 January 1999. In an sarcastic remark when it comes to Norishyam's claim
that he only helped dispose the body, CJ Yong commented, "If he (Norishyam) did not share a common
intention, what was he there for? To do a charitable act?"[21][22]

On 2 July 1999, despite Amnesty International's pleas for clemency, both 23-year-old Shaiful Edham bin
Adam and 27-year-old Norishyam s/o Mohamed Ali were hanged in Singapore's Changi Prison, the one
and only state prison where the country's death row inmates were held before their executions in the same
prison's state gallows. Before his execution, Shaiful reportedly wanted to divorce his wife, possibly due to
him not wanting her to suffer from the stigma of being a murderer's wife.[23][24][25]

Aftermath
Crime documentary series Crimewatch re-enacted the case in 1999.[26] Similarly, True Files also re-enacted
the case in 2002, and the show's 11th episode which featured the murder and trials of the murderers first
aired on 11 July 2002. The re-enactments were available in meWATCH.[27] A third show, Whispers of the
Dead, which features the famous cases solved by late pathologist Chao Tzee Cheng, re-enacted the case
and aired it as the 8th and final episode of the show's second and final season. The names of the victim and
convicts were changed to protect their identities and for dramatic purposes.[28]

In the True Files episode, the host of the show, Lim Kay Tong, together with the producers of the show,
arrived at the Depot Road flat where Apostolova was murdered. The flat was shown to be vacant and no
one was living in it; the original owner Kevin Hector never returned to the flat since the night Apostolova
died, according to the neighbours living near it. The flat was thus effectively considered abandoned. Also,
one of the trial witnesses, Mohamed Noor bin Rahmat, who was originally approached to help Shaiful
murder Apostolova, was interviewed by the show's producers, albeit with his face concealed to protect his
identity. Mohamed Noor stated that he declined to help Shaiful due to him feeling that he, as a human
being, had no right to take another person's life no matter how bad his character is, and he, out of
conscience, was not enticed by Shaiful's monetary offer.[29]

See also
Capital punishment in Singapore
 List of major crimes in Singapore (2000–present)
List of major crimes in Singapore (before 2000)

References
1. Lee, Min Kok (19 January 2016). "Former detective Richard Lim Beng Gee, 65, dies: 5 high-
profile cases he helped crack / BULGARIAN WOMAN'S BODY FOUND IN CANAL, CASE
SOLVED IN 36 HOURS" (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/former-detecti
ve-richard-lim-beng-gee-65-dies-5-high-profile-cases-he-helped). The Straits Times.
Retrieved 20 September 2021.
2. Lee, Min Kok (19 January 2016). "Former detective Richard Lim Beng Gee, 65, dies: 5 high-
profile cases he helped crack / BULGARIAN WOMAN'S BODY FOUND IN CANAL, CASE
SOLVED IN 36 HOURS" (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/former-detecti
ve-richard-lim-beng-gee-65-dies-5-high-profile-cases-he-helped). The Straits Times.
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3. "A 'slow and painful death' " (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST
=1&AT=search&K=shaiful+edham+adam&P=3&Display=0&filterS=0#). The Straits Times. 5
August 1998. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
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Search?ST=1&AT=search&K=shaiful+edham+adam&P=2&Display=0&filterS=0#). The
Straits Times. 30 July 1998. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
5. "Man charged with murder" (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST
=1&AT=search&k=shaiful%20edham%20adam#). The Straits Times. 20 January 1998.
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h?ST=1&AT=search&K=shaiful+edham+adam&P=2&Display=0&filterS=0#). The Straits
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10. "Did he 'act' out of fear?" (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST=1
&AT=advanced&K=norishyam%20mohamed%20ali&KA=norishyam%20mohamed%20ali&
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arch?ST=1&AT=search&k=shaiful%20edham%20adam#). The New Paper. 13 August
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h&K=shaiful+edham+adam&P=3&Display=0&filterS=0#). The New Paper. 12 August 1998.
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13. "WIFE IN COURT" (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST=1&AT=
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rch?ST=1&AT=search&k=hezlinda%20a%20rahman#). The Straits Times. 8 August 1998.
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15. "True Files S1 E13 Trusting Your Killer" (https://www.mewatch.sg/watch/True-Files-S1-E13-
Trusting-Your-Killer-50990). meWATCH. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
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=1&AT=search&K=shaiful+edham+adam&P=3&Display=0&filterS=0#). The Straits Times.
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ch?ST=1&AT=search&k=hezlinda%20a%20rahman#). The Straits Times. 22 September
1998. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
18. "MURDER LOOKOUT: Her behaviour was 'reprehensible' " (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/ne
wspapers/Digitised/Search?ST=1&AT=search&k=hezlinda%20a%20rahman#). The Straits
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19. "Pretty but wicked" (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST=1&AT=
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20. "Woman jailed for role in Bulgarian's murder" (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Dig
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January 1999. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
21. "Bulgarian woman's killers lose appeal" (https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitise
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22. "Shaiful Edham bin Adam and Another v Public Prosecutor" (https://www.studocu.com/my/d
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09136). Studocu. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
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25. "Singapore: Imminent execution" (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa36/002/1999/e
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28. "Whispers Of The Dead S2 Ep 8 Painful Death (1998)" (https://www.mewatch.sg/watch/Whis
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29. "True Files S1 E13 Trusting Your Killer" (https://www.mewatch.sg/watch/True-Files-S1-E13-
Trusting-Your-Killer-50990). meWATCH. Retrieved 20 September 2021.

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