Meet your killer: final hours of the condemned man

We are Still Living in the Dark Ages did'nt you know , I make no excuses for this man, his crime could have killed our young, he was found guilty, lock him up for life.

December 1, 2005

Today will be the day for long goodbyes, write Connie Levett and Steve Butcher in Singapore.

NGUYEN TUONG VAN has seen his last sunrise - by the time the sun breaks the South China Sea horizon and touches Changi prison tomorrow, the 25-year-old Australian will be dead.

In Singapore they say "hanged at dawn" but Nguyen will go to the gallows at 6am before it's light.

Today will be the long goodbyes, with final visits from his two close friends Kelly Ng and Bronwyn Lew and painful farewells with mother Kim and twin brother Khoa.

Who Nguyen sees on his last day is very much in his own hands. "Van is making the calls in terms of the visits, as to the timing and who is coming," a family friend told the Herald. He will be allowed at least four hours of outside visits.

There are other matters Nguyen must face. He will receive a visit from the hangman, expected to be Darshan Singh.

The executioner will weigh him to calculate the precise length of rope needed to break his neck when the trapdoor drops from under him.

Visiting hours close at 5pm. What to do in the remaining time? Pray and write, say those closest to him.

When Nguyen's appeal was dismissed last October, his mother said outside the court: "He is good, he is always praying."

Today Nguyen, a Catholic and prolific letter writer, is expected to pray and keep penning words of comfort and farewell to his many friends in Australia. Prison officials will prepare a special evening meal for him.

"They find out details of the person's tastes," said M. Ravi, a human rights lawyer who has defended other men on death row. "They will find out if you like extra garam masala in your curry, that sort of detail."

At 4am, a prison guard will knock on Nguyen's door to rouse him if he is sleeping.

"They will offer him breakfast but whether he can eat is another question." Then he will bathe before he is handcuffed and takes the short walk from his cell to the gallows inside the prison.

Those who will attend the hanging include the coroner, the prison superintendent, a medical officer, as well as chaplain Father Gregoire Van Giang.

An autopsy will be performed to establish cause of death and then Mrs Nguyen must collect her son's body by 1pm on Friday or the Singaporean authorities will cremate him. The Australian high commission, which has cared for the family since their arrival in Singapore a week ago, is expected to arrange the return of his body to Melbourne.

At lunchtime, the family plan to attend a formal church service at Mary Mount Convent to commemorate Nguyen's life before flying out of Singapore, probably on Friday evening.

There will be no more reason for them to stay.

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Terrified walk to a long-drop execution
By RUSSELL ROBINSON in Singapore
December 01, 2005

DEEP within the walls of Changi jail, preparations are under way for the hanging of Australian Nguyen Tuong Van.

The Melbourne drug smuggler has less than 24 hours before he is led the short distance from his small solitary cell on death row to the gallows.

Today will the last time Nguyen's mother Kim will see her son alive. Chances are she will be unaware of the preparations being made within the jail to ensure her son's execution is not botched by an equipment malfunction.

Singapore is widely known as the "Hangman of Asia" because of its high number of executions.
Sixty-six Singaporeans and 22 foreigners were executed in Changi from 2001 to September

Because of the Official Secrets Act, it is rarely spoken of in public, so little is known about the gallows and how the executioner goes about his work.

In Singapore, the long-drop method is preferred, a carry-over from British colonial times, and the procedures have changed little since then.

After Nguyen says his final farewell to his family at 6pm today, he will be taken back to his small cell where he will be given his last meal. It is believed Nguyen has used the $8 allocated to his last meal to buy takeaway.

Nguyen will meet with his priest, Father Gregoire Van Giange, later in the evening. It is believed that Father Gregoire will perform the Last Rites on Nguyen during the evening, rather than on the day of his execution.

About 5.30 prison guards will come to Nguyen's cell – he will be handcuffed and hooded and led to the gallows.

It is not known who the executioner will be after reports that Singapore's longest serving hangman Darshin Singh was removed from Nguyen's case for talking to the media.

Nguyen's lawyer Lex Lasry, whose application to be present at the hanging was rejected, said he hoped for Nguyen's sake whoever carried out the execution was experienced.

Nguyen's family will have 90 minutes in which to collect his body before it becomes the property of Singapore and is cremated.

When they collect the body they will be given a series of 13 pictures of Nguyen – part of a bizarre service performed by Changi prison for the families of those on death row.

They are meant to serve as a lasting reminder to the family of the life Nguyen could have had if he had not turned to crime.

Hanging is an ugly way to die. Dislocation of the vertebrae and spinal cord damage will render Nguyen unconscious almost instantly.

The broken neck while hanging leads to "comatose asphyxia" – lack of oxygen while unconscious. Brain death follows in about six minutes, whole-body death in about 15 minutes.

Mrs Nguyen has booked a ticket home to Melbourne for Saturday night. She is expected to bring the body of her son home with her that night.

She talked to a Melbourne funeral director before leaving for Singapore.

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