Tan Teow Yeow () (1946 – 6 August 2008) was a
Judicial Commissioner of the
Supreme Court of Singapore
The Supreme Court of Singapore is a set of courts in Singapore, comprising the Court of Appeal and the High Court. It hears both civil and criminal matters. The Court of Appeal hears both civil and criminal appeals from the High Court. The C ...
and a former President of the Industrial Arbitration Court.
Early life and education
Tan graduated from the
National University of Singapore Faculty of Law
The National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law) is Singapore's oldest law school. NUS Law was initially established in 1956 as the Department of Law in the University of Malaya, and subsequently, University of Singapore. After its ...
in 1967.
Career
Tan served in the legal sector for 40 years. He started his career first as a Deputy Public Prosecutor and then as a
Magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
.
In 1973, he was appointed as the head of the Crime Division of the Attorney-General's Chambers. He was then appointed as the President of the Industrial Arbitration Court from 1988 to 1991.
He was elevated to the bench in 1989 and served a two-year term as
Judicial Commissioner of the
Supreme Court of Singapore
The Supreme Court of Singapore is a set of courts in Singapore, comprising the Court of Appeal and the High Court. It hears both civil and criminal matters. The Court of Appeal hears both civil and criminal appeals from the High Court. The C ...
from 1989 to 1991.
During his two-year term as Judicial Commissioner, one of the cases presided over by Tan was the case of
Hensley Anthony Neville (1957 - 1992), a Singaporean who was wanted by Singaporean authorities for the 1984 rape and murder of
Lim Hwee Huang, a 19-year-old interior designer who was thrown to her death from the kitchen window of Neville's flat at
Kallang Bahru. Neville, who was arrested in Malaysia in March 1987, was reportedly the first person to represent himself without a lawyer during a murder trial in Singapore. Although Neville argued that both he and Lim had consensual sex and that Lim could have either accidentally or suicidally fallen to her death, both Tan and another trial judge,
Lai Kew Chai
Lai Kew Chai (; 7 February 1941 – 27 February 2006) was a Singaporean judge and the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court Bench, having served for almost 25 years as a Judge.
Biography Early life and education
Born in Tanjung Malim, P ...
, overruled Neville's claims and instead, they both determined that he had "wilfully and cruelly" killed Lim after he raped the 19-year-old victim, and hence sentenced him
to death on 22 November 1990.
See also
*
Judicial officers of the Republic of Singapore
The judicial officers of the Republic of Singapore work in the Supreme Court and the State Courts (known up to 6 March 2014 as the Subordinate Courts) to hear and determine disputes between litigants in civil cases and, in criminal matters, ...
References
1946 births
2008 deaths
National University of Singapore alumni
20th-century Singaporean judges
Singaporean Senior Counsel
Judges of the Supreme Court of Singapore
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