Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi
Encyclopedia
Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi (1985 or 1986 – January 26, 2007) was a Nigeria
n national convicted of drug trafficking
in Singapore
. Drug trafficking carries a mandatory death sentence
under Singapore's Misuse of Drugs Act
, and despite pleas for clemency
from Amnesty International
, the United Nations, President of Nigeria Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ as well as other individuals and groups, he was executed by hanging
on January 26, 2007 at Changi Prison
.
. He was given to his relatives at the age of 5. He grew up and attended St. Anthony's Mission School in Ohafia
, Abia State
. In an interview with his lawyer, he stated that his brother dropped out of school to support his father. His mother died a couple of years later.
Having a passion for football
, he joined a football club in Senegal
and subsequently played for Nigeria in the West African Coca-Cola Cup Championships when he was 14.
Later, he sought to travel to Dubai
to pursue his football career. According to the interview with his lawyer, he traveled to Pakistan
to secure a visa
before going to Dubai, as he was under the impression that a train service travels there; he would later find out that none existed.
He then sought help from St. Andrew's Church
in Islamabad
, where he was provided refuge. One Sunday, he met a man known as "Mr. Smith," who claimed to be a distant friend. Tochi claimed Mr. Smith gave him pocket money and food and offered to help Tochi obtain a visa in Dubai. However, Tochi could not ultimately obtain the visa because he did not meet the appropriate requirements.
Mr. Smith then asked Tochi for a favor. He wanted him to deliver medicine for a sick friend in Singapore, saying that his friend would meet Tochi at Changi Airport and collect the medicine. Tochi alleged that Mr. Smith led him to believe that he was delivering African herbs, not the illegal narcotic diamorphine (heroin).
to flush the capsule out of his system.
His arrest led to the arrest of another African drug figure, Okeke Nelson Malachy
, who was the 'sick friend' of Mr. Smith, to whom Tochi had been instructed to deliver the 'African herbs'. Tochi was waiting for Malachy to arrive from Medan
, Indonesia
, but Malachy's flight had been delayed.
Malachy denied being part of the conspiracy to import drugs, saying he came to Singapore to look for a second-hand car for use in South Africa
. He stated that he was in the garment wholesale business; he did not have any business card
s on him at the time of his arrest. He carried a South African passport, but officials believed he was Nigerian. Malachy was subsequently classified as stateless by officials. Later, the Department of Foreign Affairs of South Africa officially denied Malachy's South African citizenship.
Malachy's cellphone records and SIM card showed communication between him and "Mr. Smith", shortly after Malachy's plane from Medan landed at Changi Airport. Smith's cellphone number was stored in Malachy's SIM card under the name "Dogo", another of Smith's aliases
, according to Tochi. The actual identity and whereabouts of "Mr. Smith" remain unknown.
Immediately after the arrest, Tochi phoned his brother in Nigeria for help. His brother has not informed their parents as he fears that this might add more burden to them.
These two aspects of Singapore law, the nonrequirement for proof of mens rea
(guilty intention) and mandatory sentencing, have been criticised for being inconsistent with international legal standard. Tochi's lawyers put up a spirited defence. Since the basic element of crime is mens rea, the defence sought to prove that Tochi has no mens rea, that he was just an 18 year-old from a Nigeria village who just wanted to further his career in football and came across Mr. Smith who took advantage of him. More so, there was enough evidence that Tochi was not aware that he was in possession of diamorphine. According to the defence, if Tochi was aware of that, he would have fled when he was notified by the hotel staff that the police was called. He never did, neither did he even attempt to dispose the substances. Rather, he stayed in the transit area of the airport until about 20 minutes later when the police arrived. Thus the conduct of the young man was consistent with his mistaken belief that he was only in possession of African herbs meant for a sick man as opposed to being in possession of diamorphine.
In his judgement, the trial judge Kan Ting Chiu
noted that Tochi might not have known that the capsules contained diamorphine. He wrote that "There was no direct evidence that[Amara Tochi] knew the capsules contained diamorphine. There was nothing to suggest that Smith had told him they contained diamorphine, or that he had found that out of his own." paragraph 42 SGHC 233.
Notwithstanding, Justice Kan found Tochi guilty, stating that "Tochi should have known and therefore he is guilty". Both Tochi and Malachy were sentenced to death
.
later denied Tochi's request for clemency.
On 6 December 2006, CLO (Civil Liberty Organisation, Nigeria) Human rights lawyer Princewill Apakpan travelled to Singapore to conduct interviews with the Nigerian Embassy in Singapore and to meet Tochi in Changi prison. His trip was sponsored by a private human rights activist from Germany. Although carrying his legal appointment from Tochi's family to represent Tochi in all matters, Singapore's prison authorities denied him access to visit Tochi. After two weeks, Princewill returned to Nigeria, where he conducted immediate action to force the Nigerian government (which has failed to show any serious concern) to take immediate action on behalf of its national. A lawsuit was issued against Nigeria's attorney general to force actions. This was delayed by the Christmas
and New Year
holiday season. President Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ issued an official appeal only 48 hours prior to the scheduled execution.
Some activists, including Ravi, maintaining that Tochi was innocent, announced a hunger strike
in protest against the execution, beginning at 7am on 25 January 2007, at Singapore's Speaker's Corner, moving to the outside Changi Prison 12 hours later, and continuing until the execution of Tochi at the prison before dawn on the next day.
, according to Stanley Seah, assistant superintendent
at Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau
. Okele Nelson Malachy was executed with him. As a Catholic
, a funeral service was held for him at the Marymount Concent Chapel.
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n national convicted of drug trafficking
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Drug trafficking carries a mandatory death sentence
Capital punishment in Singapore
Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in Singapore. The city-state had the highest per-capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1999, estimated by the United Nations to be 1.357 executions per hundred thousand of population during that period. The next highest was Turkmenistan...
under Singapore's Misuse of Drugs Act
Misuse of Drugs Act (Singapore)
The Misuse of Drugs Act is a national drug control law classifying substances into three categories, Classes A, B, and C. Section 44 provides that "The Minister may, by an order published in the Gazette" add, remove, or transfer drugs among the classes...
, and despite pleas for clemency
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
from Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, the United Nations, President of Nigeria Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ as well as other individuals and groups, he was executed by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
on January 26, 2007 at Changi Prison
Changi Prison
Changi Prison is a prison located in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.-First prison and POW camp:...
.
Background
Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi was born in NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. He was given to his relatives at the age of 5. He grew up and attended St. Anthony's Mission School in Ohafia
Ohafia
Ohafia is a town and local government area in Abia State, Nigeria. It is an Igbo speaking region. The ancestral capital of Ohafia is the centrally located village of Elu. The Ohafia Local Government Area also includes the towns of Abiriba and Nkporo....
, Abia State
Abia State
Abia State is a state in southeastern Nigeria. The capital is Umuahia, although the major commercial city is Aba, formerly a British colonial government outpost. The state was created in 1991 from part of Imo State and its citizens are predominantly Igbo people...
. In an interview with his lawyer, he stated that his brother dropped out of school to support his father. His mother died a couple of years later.
Having a passion for football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, he joined a football club in Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
and subsequently played for Nigeria in the West African Coca-Cola Cup Championships when he was 14.
Later, he sought to travel to Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
to pursue his football career. According to the interview with his lawyer, he traveled to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
to secure a visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
before going to Dubai, as he was under the impression that a train service travels there; he would later find out that none existed.
He then sought help from St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew's Church, Church of St Andrew, or variants thereof, may refer to:- Africa :* St. Andrew's United Church in Cairo, Egypt* Church of Saint Andrew, Tangier, Morocco- Asia :* St. Andrew's Church , Hong Kong...
in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, where he was provided refuge. One Sunday, he met a man known as "Mr. Smith," who claimed to be a distant friend. Tochi claimed Mr. Smith gave him pocket money and food and offered to help Tochi obtain a visa in Dubai. However, Tochi could not ultimately obtain the visa because he did not meet the appropriate requirements.
Mr. Smith then asked Tochi for a favor. He wanted him to deliver medicine for a sick friend in Singapore, saying that his friend would meet Tochi at Changi Airport and collect the medicine. Tochi alleged that Mr. Smith led him to believe that he was delivering African herbs, not the illegal narcotic diamorphine (heroin).
Arrest
Tochi was arrested on November 28, 2004, in Changi Airport in Singapore while in transit. Authorities became suspicious after discovering that he had spent more than 24 hours in transit. One hundred capsules of diamorphine were found on him with a total weight of 727.02 grammes (a bit over a pound and a half), estimated by authorities to be worth S$1.5m (US$970,000). Tochi claimed that the capsules he carried were for a friend and insisted they were African herbs that tasted like chocolate. He swallowed a capsule to prove this, and police took him to a local hospital where he was given a laxativeLaxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
to flush the capsule out of his system.
His arrest led to the arrest of another African drug figure, Okeke Nelson Malachy
Okeke Nelson Malachy
Okeke Nelson Malachy was found guilty of drug offences and subsequently executed by the government of Singapore. Malachy was convicted of capital drug offenses related to a scheme for the movement of a large quantity of diamorphine, which also resulted in the execution of Iwuchukwu Amara...
, who was the 'sick friend' of Mr. Smith, to whom Tochi had been instructed to deliver the 'African herbs'. Tochi was waiting for Malachy to arrive from Medan
Medan
- Demography :The city is Indonesia's fourth most populous after Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung, and Indonesia's largest city outside of Java island. Much of the population lies outside its city limits, especially in Deli Serdang....
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, but Malachy's flight had been delayed.
Malachy denied being part of the conspiracy to import drugs, saying he came to Singapore to look for a second-hand car for use in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. He stated that he was in the garment wholesale business; he did not have any business card
Business card
Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation and contact information such as street addresses, telephone...
s on him at the time of his arrest. He carried a South African passport, but officials believed he was Nigerian. Malachy was subsequently classified as stateless by officials. Later, the Department of Foreign Affairs of South Africa officially denied Malachy's South African citizenship.
Malachy's cellphone records and SIM card showed communication between him and "Mr. Smith", shortly after Malachy's plane from Medan landed at Changi Airport. Smith's cellphone number was stored in Malachy's SIM card under the name "Dogo", another of Smith's aliases
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, according to Tochi. The actual identity and whereabouts of "Mr. Smith" remain unknown.
Immediately after the arrest, Tochi phoned his brother in Nigeria for help. His brother has not informed their parents as he fears that this might add more burden to them.
Trial
Singapore's law against drug-trafficking is to the effect that if a person is found with more than 2 grams of diamorphine, then the court will presume that he is trafficking, unless it is proved that the drug is not for that purpose. If more than 15 grams of diamorphine is found in his possession, the person faces mandatory death penalty if found guilty.These two aspects of Singapore law, the nonrequirement for proof of mens rea
Mens rea
Mens rea is Latin for "guilty mind". In criminal law, it is viewed as one of the necessary elements of a crime. The standard common law test of criminal liability is usually expressed in the Latin phrase, actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, which means "the act does not make a person guilty...
(guilty intention) and mandatory sentencing, have been criticised for being inconsistent with international legal standard. Tochi's lawyers put up a spirited defence. Since the basic element of crime is mens rea, the defence sought to prove that Tochi has no mens rea, that he was just an 18 year-old from a Nigeria village who just wanted to further his career in football and came across Mr. Smith who took advantage of him. More so, there was enough evidence that Tochi was not aware that he was in possession of diamorphine. According to the defence, if Tochi was aware of that, he would have fled when he was notified by the hotel staff that the police was called. He never did, neither did he even attempt to dispose the substances. Rather, he stayed in the transit area of the airport until about 20 minutes later when the police arrived. Thus the conduct of the young man was consistent with his mistaken belief that he was only in possession of African herbs meant for a sick man as opposed to being in possession of diamorphine.
In his judgement, the trial judge Kan Ting Chiu
Kan Ting Chiu
Justice Kan Ting Chiu is a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore. He was first appointed Judicial Commissioner in May 1991, and later Judge in May 1994.-External links:*...
noted that Tochi might not have known that the capsules contained diamorphine. He wrote that "There was no direct evidence that
Notwithstanding, Justice Kan found Tochi guilty, stating that "Tochi should have known and therefore he is guilty". Both Tochi and Malachy were sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
.
Appeals
On 16 March 2006, the Court of Appeal upheld the sentences issued by the High Court. The PresidentPresident of Singapore
The President of the Republic of Singapore is Singapore's head of state. In a Westminster parliamentary system, as which Singapore governs itself, the prime minister is the head of the government while the position of president is largely ceremonial. Before 1993, the President of Singapore was...
later denied Tochi's request for clemency.
On 6 December 2006, CLO (Civil Liberty Organisation, Nigeria) Human rights lawyer Princewill Apakpan travelled to Singapore to conduct interviews with the Nigerian Embassy in Singapore and to meet Tochi in Changi prison. His trip was sponsored by a private human rights activist from Germany. Although carrying his legal appointment from Tochi's family to represent Tochi in all matters, Singapore's prison authorities denied him access to visit Tochi. After two weeks, Princewill returned to Nigeria, where he conducted immediate action to force the Nigerian government (which has failed to show any serious concern) to take immediate action on behalf of its national. A lawsuit was issued against Nigeria's attorney general to force actions. This was delayed by the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
and New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
holiday season. President Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ issued an official appeal only 48 hours prior to the scheduled execution.
Some activists, including Ravi, maintaining that Tochi was innocent, announced a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
in protest against the execution, beginning at 7am on 25 January 2007, at Singapore's Speaker's Corner, moving to the outside Changi Prison 12 hours later, and continuing until the execution of Tochi at the prison before dawn on the next day.
Execution
Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi was executed about 6am at the city-state's Changi PrisonChangi Prison
Changi Prison is a prison located in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.-First prison and POW camp:...
, according to Stanley Seah, assistant superintendent
Assistant Superintendent
Assistant commissioner, or assistant commissioner of police , was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank...
at Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau
Central Narcotics Bureau
The Central Narcotics Bureau of Singapore was established in 1971 as the primary drug enforcement agency entrusted with the responsibilities of coordinating all matters pertaining to drug eradication...
. Okele Nelson Malachy was executed with him. As a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, a funeral service was held for him at the Marymount Concent Chapel.