Orchard Towers murder: 27-year-old man gets murder charge reduced to weapon charge, given conditional warning on Oct. 15

No criminal record.

Syahindah Ishak | October 15, 2020, 05:11 PM

Chan Jia Xing, 27, was among seven people to be charged with the murder of a 31-year-old man at Orchard Towers.

His initial murder charge was reduced on Jul. 11, 2019 to consorting with a person possessing an offensive weapon.

Given conditional warning, no criminal record

On Thursday (Oct. 15), Chan was given a conditional warning, according to CNA.

A conditional warning does not amount to a conviction or a finding of guilt, so Chan will not be involved in further developments in the case.

However, he will have to refrain from committing any criminal offences for one year. If he fails to do so, he can be prosecuted again.

Additionally, a conditional warning also means that Chan will not have a criminal record.

Will remain crime-free for the rest of his life

In a doorstop interview with the media after his court hearing, Chan said that he will remain crime-free for the rest of his life.

He also thanked his lawyer, saying that he did a "good job".

Josephus Tan, Chan's lawyer, said in a statement, as reported by Yahoo:

"We are grateful to the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) for coming to the right decision to withdraw the charge against our client after our representations. It’s been an arduous journey for him.

He is now happily looking forward to the birth of his firstborn next month instead of having to serve time in prison for this very unfortunate tragedy."

Only one accused person facing murder charge

Five other co-accused in the case also had their murder charges dropped.

On Oct, 9, Natalie Siow, the sole woman linked to the case, was sentenced to five months' jail.

Only one person, 28-year-old Tan Sen Yang, faces the murder charge.

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Top image from Lin Gopi/Google Maps & photo of Chan Jia Xing by Matthias Ang.