The student who slept through a double murder | Forensic Files

[Music] Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at
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support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on
our website. It was just after 2:30 p.m. on Monday, September 15, 2003, when two ambulances
turned into Barker Street, a leafy residential road in the eastern Sydney suburb of
Kingsford. The ambulances pulled up outside a red brick two-story duplex with a tidy front garden and a low brick
fence. As they parked, a panic-stricken, disheveled young man with his jumper on
inside out raced towards them. The man was 24year-old Ram Tawari. Ram lived on the second floor of the
duplex with his two 26-year-old flatmates, Tay Chaang and Tony Tan Po Chawan. All three were engineering
students from Singapore attending classes at the nearby University of New South Wales.
Upon seeing Ram, the paramedics quickly locked their doors. They were understandably on edge,
having been called to the property about a suspected double homicide. One of the paramedics rolled
her window down a crack to hear what Ram had to say. He looked bewildered and was
clearly in a state of distress. Ram told the paramedics that he was the one who'd called for help. Through heavy
breaths, Ram explained that he'd found one of his flatmates on the floor, bloody and frothing at the
mouth. As he spoke, the paramedics noted that Ram seemed distracted by the sight
of his own hands and kept looking down at them. They were smeared with blood. [Music]
[Music] Police arrived on Barker Street moments later. As they made their way towards
the duplex, Ram Tawari struggled to make sense of what he'd seen. The 24year-old student, who was
born in India but raised in Brunai and Singapore, had been in Australia for just over 3 years. He'd been granted a
mechanical engineering scholarship by the Singaporean armed forces after completing his national service.
To supplement his scholarship, Ram worked part-time as a security guard, which meant he often caught up on sleep
during the day. Ram told the first responding sergeant that he'd been sleeping in his
bedroom when the sounds of the television blaring in the lounge room and something falling woke
him. Thinking one of his flatmates had simply dropped something, he went back to sleep.
Sometime later, Ram woke again to a commotion. Over the loud volume of the TV, he heard someone run past his
bedroom door. Ram thought he heard his flatmate, Tony Tan Pochi, scream, "Help!" But he
couldn't be sure. Then someone pounded on Ram's door. Ram's first thought was that
someone was attempting to break in. Then he heard a loud bang as though metal was being hit against
something. This noise continued for what felt like several minutes. Still suspecting a break-in,
Ram locked his bedroom door from the inside until the sound finally stopped. He waited a while before
opening his door and peering out into the hall. To his left, he saw that the back door in the lounge room was
slightly a jar. To his right, Tony was slumped next to the front door with his back against the wall, his blooded head
resting on his chest. Blood had pulled around him and a baseball bat and kitchen knife lay by
his side. Terrified that whoever had hurt Tony was still in the apartment, Ram picked up
the bat for protection and made his way to the back door. That was when he saw his other
flatmate, Tae Chaang, lying behind the lounge room couch, his head completely bashed in and blood
everywhere. Ram quickly closed and locked the back door, then raced back to his bedroom with the bat. He locked
himself in, pulling a cabinet across the door as a barricade and used his mobile
phone to call emergency services. Ram told the operator, "I need the ambulance and the police. There's
been a murder. My two friends are lying dead outside. There's blood all over the
place." The operator asked exactly what had happened. Ram replied, "I have no idea. I was asleep and I heard this
screaming. When I turned, my two friends are dead. He said there was a baseball bat
and a knife at the scene. The operator told Ram to stay put and wait for help to
arrive. She then asked if his flatmates were definitely dead or possibly just unconscious. Ram said there was too much
blood to tell. The operator asked if Ram knew CPR. He was wellversed in CPR from his
time in the military, but he didn't want to try. Both Tony and Charlie Young's faces were so severely covered in blood
that he didn't think he could do it. The operator asked Ram if it was safe for him to go back out and check if
his flatmates were still breathing. Terror audible in his voice, Ram replied, "I'm not going back outside
till somebody gets here. I'm not [ __ ] going back outside. You want to break down the door? [ __ ] go ahead. I'm not
[ __ ] going back outside." When the operator told Ram that the paramedics had arrived, he took
the bat and left his room. He walked up to Tony and saw foam around his mouth and bleeding from his head. He
touched Tony's neck but couldn't feel a pulse. Tony wasn't breathing either. Not wanting to do anything else,
Ram left the house via the back door and went to tell the waiting paramedics and
police what had happened. In addition to being incredibly shaken by what he'd seen, Ram voiced a
disappointment in himself for not going outside when he heard Tony yell for help. I didn't go out, he told the
sergeant on the scene. I should have but didn't. After I heard somebody being hit, I should have opened the door but
didn't. Police climbed the small flight of stairs at the front of the duplex. While the lower level was
occupied by the property's landlords, the second floor served as a convenient sharehouse for students attending the
nearby University of New South Wales Kensington campus. It was a modest abode with four
bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a lounge room. The front door opened to a small hallway that the rooms stemmed
from. With the lounge room at the end of the hall, the back door in the lounge room
opened to a small verander and a second set of external stairs. These led down to the concrete
backyard which housed the rubbish bins and other facilities. The home's decor was bland
with bare white walls, white floors, and cheap furnishings. When the police reached the top of the
stairs, they found the front door closed but unlocked. The body of 26-year-old Tony
Tan Po Chawan lay slumped against it in a pool of blood. The officers had to push him
aside to gain access. Only once they were inside did the true horror become clear.
Tony's head had been so severely bashed that parts of his brain were visible. He had also been stabbed
multiple times in the neck, presumably with the blackhandled kitchen knife lying under his right
leg. One of the wounds was so deep that it had punctured his voice box. Blood was smeared all over the wall
and across the door frame. The police followed a trail of blood down the hallway towards the lounge room
and found Tony's prescription eyeglasses smashed to pieces along with several of
his shattered teeth. Blood spatter, smears, and bloody footprints marked the loun floor, couch,
and coffee table. The lounge room was sparssely furnished with nothing more than a beige couch, a
canvas deck chair, a coffee table, and a small television sitting on a flatpack stand. Behind the couch, a makeshift
desk sat low to the ground with a computer and other equipment on top, the back door to its left.
As police approached, they could see that the couch and deck chair were splattered with blood and appeared to
have been pushed slightly out of place. Behind the couch, 26-year-old Tay Chow Young lay in a pool of
blood. Like Tony, he had sustained numerous blows to the head as well as multiple stab wounds to the
neck. On the other side of the room, the TV blared at high volume. Ram Tawari was taken to the police
station where he voluntarily gave two detectives a more detailed statement in an electronically recorded
interview. Ram couldn't think of anyone who would possibly want to hurt Tony or Charlie Young.
Both of them were dedicated electrical engineering students who spent the majority of their time focusing on their
studies, living relatively quiet lives in Australia. Like Ram, Tony was completing
his degree thanks to a scholarship from the Singaporean armed forces. He'd taken his education
seriously as he'd hoped to secure a good military career that could help him provide for his parents.
Having already fulfilled his national service and completed a diploma in architectural technology, Tony hoped to
rise to the rank of major by the time he was 30. Charlie Young's university tuition
was paid by his parents who worked as food vendors back in Singapore. He was a computer whiz who
happily spent his spare time online or at home watching movies. While Tony had gone out with Ram
on a few occasions, Charlie Young's English was limited, and he associated almost exclusively with other
Singaporean or Asian students. Neither had any known enemies, nor were they involved with drugs,
criminal activity, or any shady characters. Ram explained to the detectives that the previous evening of
Sunday, September 14, had been uneventful. After working a security shift in the day, he'd returned home at
around 6:00 p.m. and watched the fantasy adventure film Lord of the Rings with Tony and Chia
Young. The trio had made a few passing comments about the film, but nothing of note was
discussed. Ram was exhausted, having worked all weekend. He was the first to go to bed at around 9:30 p.m., at which
point everything was normal. Ram woke up at around 6:30 a.m. on Monday to a phone call from his
girlfriend, Elva. They spoke for about half an hour during which they arranged to meet at
uni at 2:00 p.m. that afternoon. Ram got up, ate breakfast, and had a shower, but then went back to
sleep. He didn't know what time it was when he'd first woken up to the TV blaring
and the sound of something falling, but the noise had been so innocuous that he hadn't even considered getting up to see
what it was. It was only when he'd woken for the second time at around 2:10 p.m. that he
heard the banging sound and screams in the hallway and realized something was horribly wrong.
He repeated the same story he'd given the emergency services operator and the first responding sergeant about how he'd
discovered his flatmate's bodies. Ram told the detectives that on his way out to meet the paramedics, he
went up to Tony and touched his neck to feel for a pulse. He then put his hand to Tony's
nose to see if he was breathing. He noticed that Tony was frothing at the mouth.
The blood was falling out of Tony's nose and air too, Ram recalled. Back at Barker Street, Ram
took detectives on a walkthrough of the crime scene to explain exactly what he'd
seen when he emerged from his bedroom. He added that when he checked Tony, a spurt of blood had come out of
his mouth and he'd quote sort of spasomemed. While the blackhandled kitchen knife was
a generic model that could have come from anywhere, Ram explained that the baseball bat found next to Tony's body
actually belonged to him. He'd purchased it just 2 days earlier from a sports store in the city, but hadn't had a
chance to use it yet. Despite a thorough examination of the property, investigators found no
clues as to who the killer or killers might be. There was no sign of forced entry, nor
was there any blood or other evidence outside the property to indicate where the perpetrator had fled
to. Five sets of fingerprints were found throughout the home that couldn't be attributed to one of the tenants or
their known guests. These prints were put through the police database, but didn't match
anyone in the system. The baseball bat and a knife were forensically examined, but no usable
prints were found. Albert Leasher was the landlord who lived on the ground floor of the
Barker Street duplex. He told police that he and his wife had been in and out of the property
throughout the day. They kept the side gates locked until they returned at around 1:45
p.m. Albert said he'd sat down to eat his lunch at 1:50 p.m., but didn't hear any of the commotion taking place
upstairs. The only person he saw run past the back window was Ram Tawari on his way to greet the first responders.
The next step for investigators was to look into Chia Young and Tony's movements on the day of the
crime. The pair had been close friends ever since Tony moved into the Barker Street apartment several months
prior. Because they were both completing the same degree, they were known to be more or less inseparable around the
university. On Mondays, they were both scheduled to attend a midday lecture on mobile and satellite communication
systems. The two typically woke up at around 8:00 a.m., prepared for the day, and then studied for a couple of hours
before walking to the lecture hall together. The campus was only about a 5-minute walk from their home, and they
always made the journey on foot. A forensic examination of Tony's computer, which was in his bedroom,
revealed he'd spent Monday morning at home working on his thesis. He sent two emails to his
supervisor. the first at 10:42 a.m. and the second at 11:06 a.m. before manually
shutting the computer down at 12:02 p.m. As fastidious students, Tony and Charlie Young both valued punctuality
and were always on time for classes. However, several classmates told the police that on Monday, September 15,
Tony showed up for the 12:00 p.m. lecture around 15 minutes late and alone. His usually neat, gilled hair was
messy, and disheveled. Some classmates noticed that he seemed distracted, restless, and
tired. When one of them asked Tony why he was late, he smiled vaguely but said nothing. He didn't seem to be paying
attention to the lecture, instead turning his head and looking around as though keeping an eye out for
someone. Unusually, Charlie Young didn't show up at all. Tony and Charlie Young had arranged to
meet with a classmate named Kevin after the lecture to organize an ethics seminar they'd been working on
together. But during the lecture, Tony lent over to Kevin and told him they had to cancel the meeting. He gave no
explanation as to why, simply saying that Charlie Young had something he needed to do.
The lecture finished a little early at around 1:50 p.m. Afterwards, Tony chatted to some
classmates and they noticed he appeared uneasy. He was shaking from side to side. One friend asked what was going on
and Tony responded that he urgently needed to go to the toilet. Other classmates noted that Tony seemed tired
but otherwise normal. He told one of them that he was going home to sleep. Tony then left the lecture hall
and began walking up the outdoor staircase that led off campus towards the corner of Oval Lane and Willis
Street. This was a well-used pathway for students coming and going from the university and was the usual route Tony
walked home. Just before 2:00 p.m., he passed a friend named Jonathan who asked, "How's
it going?" Instead of responding with his typical friendly smile and a warm reply,
Tony grunted, "It's going good." before continuing on his way. Jonathan watched as Tony made his
way towards a vehicle parked near the top of the steps on Willis Street. Jonathan remembered it because the car
was facing the wrong way in the one-way street and was also parked in front of a
no stopping sign. He could see two or three other people inside the car, all of them
Asian, none of whom he recognized. Jonathan was with his friend Sha, who saw the car and its occupants,
too. Sha remembered Tony taking his backpack off and approaching the car's open door.
Tony got into the car, which Jonathan noted as odd because he knew Tony lived in close walking distance to the
campus. He then watched as the car drove away with Tony inside. Police could find no explanation
as to why Cha Young hadn't attended uni that day. At the time he was killed, he'd been
wearing trousers and a jumper with his wallet in his back pocket. Those who knew Charlie Young
said that was how he dressed when he left the house. If he was hanging around at home,
he just wore shorts and a t-shirt. The fact that he was dressed suggested that he was either preparing
to leave the house or perhaps expecting company. Charlie Young's computer was last used
at 11:58 a.m. The blood spatter and positioning of his body behind the couch indicated that he'd been sitting at the
low computer table at around this time when someone came up and unexpectedly hit his head from behind with a blunt
object. The tip of his left index finger was crushed to the point of almost being
amputated, suggesting that he'd put his hand up to his head after the first blow, at which point he was struck
again. The force of these two blows was extreme enough to fracture Chariang's skull and cause brain damage.
Further examination of his brain revealed a substance called amalloid precursor protein, more commonly known as
beta. This substance only forms when at least 2 hours have passed between a brain injury being inflicted and the
individual's time of death. The presence of beta indicated that Charlie Young hadn't died instantly, but
had survived for at least 2 hours after he was first struck in the head. This was a significant finding for
several reasons. First, the last confirmed sighting of Tony was at 2:00 p.m. and Ram's call to
emergency services was placed at 2:20 p.m. This meant that Tony was attacked during that short window of time, while
Chowi Yang was attacked around midday. It also explained why the five stab wounds in Chowi Yang's neck hadn't
bled much and why no blood was found in his lungs. Investigators believed that these stab
wounds hadn't been inflicted at the same time as the blows to Chia Young's head,
but hours later when he was either on the brink of death or postmortem. Based on the forensic
evidence, investigators believed that Tony returned home through the front door. If he'd entered via the back door,
he would have instantly come across Charlie Young's body lying behind the couch.
Yet, when police first arrived at the crime scene, they'd found a pot of chicken wings cooking on the stove,
indicating that Tony had started preparing his lunch without suspecting anything was a
miss. He'd also taken his shoes off and put his wallet in his bedroom. From the kitchen, Tony likely
made his way to the lounge room where the attacker hit him headon, smashing his glasses to pieces.
At least two blows were administered with such force that Tony's nose was fractured. All eight of his front teeth
were knocked out and his jaw was broken. Blood smears, footprints, and displaced furniture indicated that he'd
then fallen to the ground, but managed to get up and run down the hallway in an attempt to escape.
there. The offender struck Tony in the head several more times, causing at least 12 lacerations and massive skull
fractures. Bruises on Tony's arms indicated he tried to defend himself, but the ferocity of the attack had
rendered him powerless. While his head injuries were severe enough to ensure death, five stab wounds
were also found on the right side of Tony's neck, inflicted one below the other in a brisk, frenzied
attack. The evidence at the crime scene was disturbing and perplexing. If Charlie Young was first
attacked at midday, then it meant he lay dying for 2 hours while the offender either lay in wait or left. and then
returned to kill Tony shortly after 2:00 p.m. At that point, the offender might have detected a sign of life in Charlie
Young and stabbed him in the neck to ensure he was dead. Yet, strangely enough, while the
baseball bat and knife found next to Tony's body showed traces of Tony's blood and DNA, there wasn't a single
spot of Charlie Young's blood or DNA found on either [Music] weapon. The evidence at the Barker
Street crime scene left investigators with more questions than answers. The most obvious being, why would anyone
want these young men dead? By all accounts, Ta Cha Yang and Tony Tan Po Chuan were quiet, polite,
and intelligent students who kept a low profile while focusing on their education. They were beautiful sons who
valued their families, with Tony's mother saying that Tony would always help others, including his friends.
Both men lived off modest allowances and nothing was missing to indicate robbery
as a motive. A friend of Tony's told the police, "I can't think of any reason why
anyone would want to hurt Tony. I do not believe that Tony had any friends who I
would not trust." Police considered whether the attacks could have been racially
motivated. There had been a recent wave of kidnappings and extortion attempts against Asian students in New South
Wales, the most recent having occurred just weeks prior. A 19-year-old Vietnamese student was strangled to
death after a botched kidnapping attempt, while a Chinese student had been kidnapped and assaulted while the
perpetrators demanded a $120,000 ransom from her parents in Beijing. But investigators found no evidence to
support such a motive. And it was quickly ruled out, leaving them to comb through the men's personal lives in an
attempt to discover what, if any, secrets they'd been hiding. It was common for young
Singaporean men to marry before moving overseas to complete their tertiary education.
Tony had met his girlfriend in an online chat room in 1998 and the two wed in Singapore just a few months before his
murder. She had visited Sydney and stayed with Tony at Barker Street. When questioned by police, she
couldn't think of anyone who would wish Tony harm. A forensic examination of Tony's computer didn't reveal evidence
of infidelity, criminal activity, or anything to suggest that he felt he was in danger. However, the search of Tay
Charles Young's computer was a different story. Charlie Young was married to a woman named Winnie, who was also back in
Singapore. The two met in high school and married in a registry wedding, but they'd had been planning a proper
wedding celebration after Charlie Young completed his degree and moved back home. Tony's wife told police that when
she was visiting Barker Street, she noticed that Charlie Young didn't wear his wedding ring. He only put it on when
Winnie came to visit. Charlie Young's online activity revealed that he'd spent the last few months
before his death in almost daily contact with another woman in Singapore named Jasmine. While it was mostly just a
day-to-day chitchat, their online conversations were often flirtatious and occasionally sexual.
Chia Young made it clear that he was attracted to Jasmine and had romantic feelings for her even though she was
engaged to be married. Police wondered if jealousy could have played a role in the double
homicide. They conducted searches with immigration, but these only proved that neither Jasmine nor her boyfriend were
in Australia at the time of the murders. With no obvious suspects or motives, police turned their focus to the
mysterious car on Willis Street that Tony's uni mates, Jonathan and Sha, had seen him enter mere minutes before he
was killed. Tony accepting a ride home instead of walking was so out of character that police were convinced it
was significant. Either the people in the car had something to do with the murders or they might have witnessed
something crucial that could hold the key to solving the case. Unfortunately, Willis Street
wasn't covered by the university's CCTV cameras, and the descriptions of the vehicle varied. Jonathan described it as
a white four-door sedan, possibly a Toyota Echo, while Sha said it was dark in color.
Police spent hours driving the two young men around the area to see if they could
spot a similar looking car, but it was a fruitless endeavor. As for the occupants of the
vehicle, all Jonathan or Sha could say was that they appeared to be Asian. A man who lived near the victims
told the police that he saw a palecoled car parked in a laneway near Barker Street sometime after 100 p.m. on the
day in question. At around 2:25 p.m., a university student was driving down Barker Street
looking for a park when he saw an olive skinned man who was quote, "not Indian or Caucasian looking around as he made
his way towards a small white sedan parked next door to the murder scene." The man, who appeared to be in
his early 30s, got into the car and it drove away. Another woman described seeing a similar
car driving erratically about 2 km from Barker Street at around 2:30 p.m. She estimated that the vehicle was going 100
km hour in a 50 zone. It almost hit another car as well as a telegraph pole. The woman told the
police, "It wasn't just joy riders. The speed scared me. I had never witnessed this sort of behavior on the road
before. As weeks passed, with no breakthroughs in the case, the police made a public appeal for the driver of
the car to come forward. They said the man had picked Tony up less than 30 minutes before his
body was found and that he could be the vital link in solving the murders. The car was described as light blue or
white and resembling a Toyota Echo. Anyone who had seen a similar vehicle around Barker Street was
encouraged to contact the police. No one came forward, prompting police to issue an international press
release, but still the car and its occupants remained a mystery. Weeks turned into months with the
unsolved case receiving little attention from the Australian media. By May 2004, 8 months had passed
and the killer was still yet to be apprehended. On Thursday, May 27, surviving housemate Ram Tari contacted
the police to let them know he intended to return to Singapore. He told them that his studies hadn't
been going well and there were commitments he needed to fulfill back at home. Ram hadn't booked his flight yet,
but he wanted to check if the police needed anything further from him before he left. The detectives working the case
asked Ram to visit the police station the following morning for one final interview. Ram
agreed. When he showed up the next day as planned, the detectives read him his rights and then sat him down for a
second recorded interview. What Ram didn't realize was that he wasn't being interviewed as a
witness, but as a suspect. For some time, detectives had been dubious of Ram's claims that he'd
slept through the attacks committed right outside his bedroom. While they'd initially been willing to
accept this, this changed after forensic evidence indicated 2 hours passed between the two
attacks. Detectives didn't think it made sense for an outsider to enter the apartment. Plud and Charlie Young, then
leave, only to return hours later to launch the second attack on Tony. Ram was 6t tall and a trained
commando described by France as a bit macho. Why then would he barricade himself in
his room knowing that his friend was outside screaming for help? The fact that there was no sign of
forced entry or robbery also raised suspicion, suggesting that the crimes might have been committed by someone who
either lived there or was welcomed inside. Given how bloody the scene was, it stood to reason that whoever carried
out the attacks would have also been covered in blood. Yet, a forensic examination revealed no blood on any of
the home's external structures, such as the back door, rear stairs, the garden, or surrounding
fences. Detectives believed this was because the offender washed up before leaving.
An inspection of the kitchen and bathroom hadn't revealed any obvious evidence of a cleanup, but further
testing revealed a strong positive for blood in the bathroom sink, as well as a weak positive on the hot water
tap. When police and paramedics had first arrived at Barker Street, Ram Tawari's hands were smeared with blood.
He explained this was because he'd picked up the murder weapons to defend himself in case the offender was still
in the house and that he'd checked Tony's pulse as well. But when Ram was taken to the
police station for questioning, a detective who specialized in crime scene examinations also noted spots of blood
on Ram's feet and ankles. Testing proved that the blood had come from Tony Tan Pochawan. In Ram's walkthrough of the
crime scene, he provided a new detail that could explain this. He said that when he'd gone to check Tony's pulse,
Tony had coughed and blood spurtded from his mouth. The investigators found this
incredibly suspicious. For starters, this was the first time Ram had mentioned such an event. He'd
said nothing of it during his first interview with police. Secondly, Ram was on the phone
to emergency services for 10 minutes and 20 seconds before he claimed to have exited his bedroom and checked on his
friends. Yet, the attack on Tony had been ferocious, and he had likely died within
minutes, making it highly unlikely that he would have coughed up blood 10 minutes
later. The blood spots on Ram's feet and ankles ranged from 1 to 3 mm in diameter
and looked to one forensic detective like medium velocity blood spatter. In other words, it looked like
the result of an impact, not an expiration. The detectives had also noticed some
small discrepancies in Ram's version of events. When Ram first called emergency services to report the murders, he told
the operator that his two friends were dead, that both had been completely bashed in, and that there was blood all
over the place. However, during his first recorded interview at the police station, Ram
told the detectives that he didn't see Charlie Young's body until he was on the phone with the operator and went out to
assess the situation. After seeing Tony's body and realizing the back door was open, Ram
told the detectives that he grabbed both the knife and the baseball bat from next
to Tony. He then went to close the door and quote, "That's when I saw Chia Young. He was lying behind the couch and
was covered in covered in blood, too." The detectives assumed that Ram was unaware that his phone call to
emergency services was being recorded. He therefore told the operator the truth that both of his flatmates were dead,
but then made up what he believed would be a more favorable version of events when speaking to the
police. It wasn't just the forensic evidence and inconsistencies that had roused detectives
suspicions. Shortly after the murders, Ram moved out of Barker Street and into another student share house.
When his new flatmates asked him what he'd witnessed, Rams said he wasn't even home when Tony and Charlie Young were
killed. He said he'd simply returned home to find his flatmates's dead. Another friend told the police
that Ram hadn't even told his own family about the murders, even though they were
very close. With several details in Ram's account not adding up, this left the question of
motive. Ta Charlie Young and Ram Tiari had lived at the Barker Street apartment since July 2002 and Tony Tan Pochawan
since March 2003. Police spoke to multiple witnesses who knew the three housemates and they
all said the same thing. There was no overt animosity between any of them. While there had been some small
domestic disagreements about the cooking and washing up, the trio had sorted this
out by deciding to cook their meals separately. They bought all their own food and labeled it
appropriately. This hadn't created any ongoing tension or friction, and they continued to cohabitate peacefully.
The landlords who lived downstairs also said they'd never seen or heard their upstairs tenants fighting or
arguing. It cost the students $2,172 per month to rent the apartment. Every month, like clockwork,
Xiao Yang paid the entire amount, and his flatmates then reimbursed him for their respective shares.
He also took care of the bills and expenses which were divided among the housemates. When police searched the
property, they'd come across an undated post-it note in Ram's bedroom written by
Charlie Young. It had Ram's name on it along with an itemized list of money he apparently owed to Charlie Young. It
started with an outstanding debt of $1,148, followed by rent for March and Ram's share of bills and
food. A second note found in Ram's bedroom was also confirmed to have been written by Charlie Young.
It was another itemized list of apparent debts that Ram had incurred, including what appeared to be a previously
outstanding amount of $4,445 along with rent and bills for August. It came to a total of
$5,054. The note also listed money owed to Cha Young by someone called Andrew. According to the itemized account,
Andrew owed $500 in bond rent for the months of July and August and more than $1,500 in undisclosed incidental
expenses, which included a $4 charge for toilet paper. However, no one by the name of
Andrew had ever lived at the property. A fourth tenant, a Taiwanese student named Vincent, had resided there during
2002, but he'd moved out around the same time that Tony moved in. Vincent told the police that he'd
returned to the house for a brief stay in July 2003, and that during his visit, Ram mentioned that a friend of his was
supposed to be moving into the spare room. While Vincent couldn't remember who exactly gave him this information,
he recalled that the new tenant was named Andrew and that he was an Australian from the New South Wales city
of Ba'athist. Emails sent from Charlie Young to Ram and Tony in July 2003 also made mention of one of Ram's friends
moving in. When asked about Andrew during a phone call from the police, Rams said he
didn't know anyone by that name and there were no plans for a fourth tenant to move
in. He said he'd met someone at uni who mentioned they wouldn't mind moving into
the Barker Street apartment, but they'd changed their mind and Ram never mentioned it to Tony or Charlie
Young. No one close to Ram had ever heard him mention a friend named Andrew. Despite their best efforts,
investigators found no evidence to suggest who the elusive Andrew was. A forensic accountant examined
Ram's Australian bank accounts and concluded that he hadn't reimbursed Charlie Young his share of the rent or
household expenses since March 2003, 6 months before the murders. Furthermore, on September 10, he
received his wage from the security company he worked for, giving him a little over
$700. After making some other payments, Ram didn't have enough left over to cover the rent due on September 13, let
alone reimburse the money he already owed. Investigators obtained Ram's university
records and discovered that his struggles weren't solely financial. As part of his military
scholarship, Ram was required to maintain good grades. If he failed to do so, he had to pay the tuition money
back. Any debt would ultimately be the responsibility of his brother and cousin as they had signed as guarantors on Ram
scholarship. Records showed that in the second semester of 2001, Ram failed three out
of the five subjects he was enrolled in. He then lied about his results to the military to ensure they'd continue
financing his scholarship. Things didn't improve in 2002. He failed most of his subjects,
leaving him with no choice but to retake the courses before he could submit his grades to the military.
In mid August 2003, 1 month before his housemates were killed, Ram received an invoice from the University of New South
Wales demanding immediate payment of outstanding fees, some of which were almost a year
overdue. In total, Ram owed the university a little over $7,000. Both Tony and Charlie Young had been set
to graduate at the end of 2003, at which point they intended to return to Singapore. The plan was that Ram would
take over the lease as well as the responsibility of paying rent to the landlords.
With the money Ram already owed Charlie Young in rent and expenses along with the overdue fees due to the university,
investigators believed it stood to reason that Ram was under a considerable amount of financial
pressure. Additionally, he knew that Tony was returning to Singapore to pursue a military career, which might
have contributed to a growing anxiety that his poor academic results would be revealed.
Police believed that desperate times had led to desperate measures, prompting Ram
to invent the fictitious character of Andrew to ease his financial pressure by reducing the amount of rent he owed each
month. While this might have momentarily relieved some pressure, the receipt of his overdue university fees finally
pushed him over the edge. [Music] Based on all the information they had gathered, investigators suspected that
Charlie Young had decided to skip his lecture on Monday, September 15, so he could confront Ram about the unpaid rent
and organize his taking over the lease. As they spoke, Ram started to panic about the mess he'd made.
The two began to argue, at which point Ram lashed out, grabbed the baseball bat he'd purchased with this very
confrontation in mind, and used it to bash Chowi Young over the head. Thinking Chowi Young was dead, Ram
then washed himself and the baseball bat clean and waited 2 hours for Tony to return home from his lecture.
Ram killed Tony to cover up what he'd done to Cha Young and to ensure Tony couldn't tell the authorities about the
ongoing financial dispute between the two. Perhaps detecting a sign of life in Chaang, Ram then stabbed him in the neck
to make sure he was definitely dead. He quickly cleaned himself up before calling emergency services and
concocting the false story about sleeping through the attacks. Only when realizing that there was blood
spatter on his feet and ankles did he try to explain its presence by making up the story about Tony coughing up
blood. 8 months after the double homicide as Ram Tawari sat down for his second recorded police interview. He
declined an offer to speak to a lawyer. The detectives put it to Ram that he was the one who killed Charlie
Young and Tony. He flatly denied all of the allegations to no avail. Ram was placed under arrest and
charged with two counts of murder. Seemingly in disbelief, Ram asked, "But what about the people in the
car?" The detectives did not respond. [Music] Ram Tawari was denied bail after being
deemed a flight risk and placed in custody awaiting trial. Upon hearing that he'd been
charged with the brutal slayings of Ta Cha Young and Tony Tan Po Chuan, those who knew Ram were left in utter
disbelief. The allegations simply didn't align with the person they knew. By all accounts, Ram came from a good
home and was part of a loving and supportive family. His father was a recently retired vice principal who had
only ever known his son to behave responsibly and respectfully. Ram had been an outstanding high school student who had
gone on to dutifully perform his national service in Singapore, rising to the rank of
lieutenant. After he moved to Sydney in July 2000, Ram's outgoing and extroverted personality ensured he had
no trouble making new friends. He was something of a social butterfly who loved an audience and
telling a good story. Friendly and generous with his money, Ram was always the first to shout
a round of drinks on a night out. While Ram could be passionate and sometimes got into arguments at the uni
bar, none of his friends knew him to be violent. If anything, they viewed him as
a peacemaker. Ram was the kind of friend who would step in and take care of his mates if one of them had too much to
drink, going out of his way to make sure they got home safely. Ram's girlfriend, Elva,
described him as a calm person who doesn't lose his head over things. She said he's the type of person who would
rather walk away from a situation than let it escalate. For those who knew Ram well,
there was nothing unusual about his claims that he'd slept through the attacks. In addition to enjoying a night
out, Ram was in the habit of studying late into the night, then sleeping throughout the day. It wasn't unusual
for him to get up to attend a morning lecture before going straight back to bed.
On the morning of the murders, Elvira and Ram had made plans to meet at uni at 2:00 p.m. When he didn't show up, Elvver
wasn't surprised. She sent him a text message at 2:10 p.m. that read, "I guess you're still sleeping.
Bye." Elvira was one of only two people Ram had completely confided in about what he'd seen on September 15, 2003.
The other was a close friend Ram had stayed with after the Barker Street property was cordoned off as a crime
scene. According to Ram, his decision not to tell anyone else had nothing to do with an inconsistent narrative, but
was a shamebased response. During his second interview with the detectives, Ram straight up admitted
that he'd lied to several people about not being at the house on the day of the murders. "I heard something happening
that day, and what I did was I shut my door and didn't do anything," he explained. "I feel so bad about that
fact. I hate going and telling people who know me. Yeah, I was in the house, but I didn't do anything.
As for his decision not to tell his parents that his housemates were killed, Ram reasoned that he'd been living out
of home for 6 years and had been self-sufficient during that time. I didn't want to worry my parents,
he told the detectives. That's the way it's always been. If I think I can ride something out without worrying them,
that's exactly what I'll do. Ram was incredulous at the suggestion he could have killed Charlie Young over a
financial dispute. First and foremost, Ram claimed he didn't even owe Charlie Young any
money. The reason his bank account didn't show any payments to Charlie Young was because he and Tony paid their
rent in cash. Even Chaoli Young's wife had told the police that she'd seen Cha Yang carrying
around a stack of cash when she visited Barker Street, which he then took to deposit at the
bank. The detectives presented Ram with the post-it note found in his bedroom detailing that Ram owed Charlie Young
$1,148 for an unspecified debt, followed by a rant and expenses for March. Ram had a simple explanation for
this. He told detectives that the $1,148 equated to 2 months of rent and expenses. This was for the months of
January and February 2003 when Ram had been in Singapore for the summer holidays. He said he'd paid his rent for
December before leaving, and Charlie Young presented him with the Post-it note upon his return in late February.
He had paid that money in March. As for the second note found in Ram's bedroom, which the detective said was
evidence that Ram owed Charlie Young a total of $5,054, Ram pointed out that the word O
wasn't written anywhere on the note. He explained this was because the note was actually a list of cash
payments he had made to Charlie Young, not money that was outstanding. Ram argued that some budget statements
found on Charlie Young's computer supported this. The spreadsheets were made up of
two columns titled inflow and expenses. In one of the inflow columns, Charlie Young had written RAM till July
along with an amount of $4,445. The detectives believed this was evidence that as of July 2003, Ram was
$4,445 behind in his rental payments. But according to Ram, inflow related to money that Charlie Young had
already received. As proof, he reasoned that another item in the inflow column was
called cash, and incoming cash wasn't something that could be owed. Furthermore, on the day of the murders,
Charlie Young had pinned a note to the front door that read, "Bross, if Vincent comes to get his stuff, collect $63 from
him for electricity. Thanks." The $63 that Vincent owed Charlie Young wasn't listed in any of the inflow
columns of his budget statements, which Ram claimed supported the notion that inflow didn't relate to money Charlie
Young was owed. Ram also pointed out that if he hadn't paid his rent or expenses since
early 2003, surely that would have put Charlie Young under considerable financial stress. Yet, he hadn't
complained to anyone about Ram owing him money. In fact, an online message found
on Charlie Young's computer suggested the opposite. In June 2003, 3 months before
the murders, Charlie Young had sent a gift to a friend in Singapore. When the friend messaged to say thank
you, Charlie Young responded, "Ram paying my rent for this month, so I got extra couple of
hundreds." For Ram, the notion that he could have killed his flatmates over $5,000 was
absurd. Even if Ram did owe Charlie Young money, it was a solvable issue. Although Ram's parents weren't wealthy,
they were reasonably well off, and Ram's father had given him ready access to a Singaporean bank account with adequate
funds. If he'd found himself in financial strife, he would have accessed that account. The fact that Ram owed the
University of New South Wales over $7,000 was admittedly a source of stress for him, but he'd been honest with the
police about it. In fact, when he called the detectives the day before his arrest to let them
know his intention to return to Singapore, he'd told them all about his uni issues. Without prompting, he admitted
that he'd failed several subjects and was therefore blocked from reenrolling in his course the coming
semester. As he and his family would be liable to reimburse the military for funds already paid, Ram told the police
he felt he had no choice but to return home and face the [Music] music. As Ram waited for his day in
court, he hired a defense attorney who began looking into the forensic side of things.
While the prosecution claimed to Ram had a lie about being in his bedroom when the attacks took place, forensic testing
of Ram's bedroom after the murders revealed a dust marks on the floor that supported his story about dragging his
cabinet in front of the door to barricade himself in. Crime scene photos also showed a
small cabinet by the door. While prosecutors believed the phone call Ram placed to emergency
services was staged, the defense had a very different interpretation. When the operator asked
if it was safe for Ram to go outside to check on his housemates, he adamantly replied, "I'm not going back outside
till somebody gets here. I'm not [ __ ] going back outside. You want to break down the
door? [ __ ] go ahead. I'm not [ __ ] going back outside. When the operator told him help
was on the way, Ram asked, "Are you going to hang up or are you going to stay on?" The operator asked if Ram wanted
them to stay on the line. He responded, "Could you please till somebody gets here, please?"
Not only did the defense believe that the recording indicated Ram was in a genuine state of distress when he placed
the call, it also proved that he was in his bedroom. When paramedics arrived at Barker Street, Ram told the operator
that he was going to go outside. At this point, the audio captured the increasing sound of the
television, indicating that Ram was walking from his room and towards the living room, just as he later described
in his police interview. Then there was the matter of blood. Despite the large amount of blood
throughout the crime scene, very little was found on Ram. Other than the blood on his hands,
which he'd readily shown to the first officer on the scene, there were just a few spots of Tony's blood on Ram's
clothes, ankles, and feet. Not a single spot of Charlie Young's blood or DNA was found on him
anywhere. As Ram's defense lawyer pointed out to Channel News Asia's current affairs program, Get
Real. If someone's been struck with an item like a baseball bat and that bat gets blood on it, then when that bat's
been swung back, you get castoff blood. And that would include blood going onto the back of the person who's holding the
bat. There was blood on the walls and all around, but not on Ram's back. Investigators reasoned the lack of blood
on Ram was because he had washed himself before calling the authorities. Yet, when a crime scene investigator tested
the Barker Street bathroom for blood, all they'd found was a strong positive in the bathroom sink and a weak positive
on the hot water tap. However, the test was inconclusive as it was also designed
to react to other organic matter and certain metals. A positive test could just as easily be
reacting to rust as to blood. The Uband pipe in the sink was removed and analyzed for blood, but none
was found. Nor was there any evidence to suggest that bleach or any other cleaning agents had been used.
Moreover, when police arrived at the crime scene, the shower recess and laundry sink were both completely dry,
and there were no wet towels anywhere in the house to suggest someone had recently washed
themselves. Investigators were convinced that the same baseball bat had been used
to kill both Tony and Charlie Young, even though not a single trace of Charlie Young's blood or DNA was found
on it. Yet the handle of the baseball bat was covered in fabric, and this too was
dry. If Ram had washed all traces of Chia Young's blood from the bat after using it to kill him, then it stood to
reason that the fabric would have been wet. The brand new baseball bat was still shrink wrapped at the time of the
murders. Pieces of the plastic shrink wrap were found in Tony's wounds, but nowhere on Cha Young.
Ram's defense team reasoned this wasn't because it had been washed between the attacks, but because two separate
weapons were used. The reason none of Charlie Young's blood was on Ram was because he'd had nothing to do with the
murder. During the investigation, some of Tony's friends had told the police that Tony mentioned wanting to buy a
baseball bat for protection. He didn't mention what he wanted protection from, nor did he seem scared.
It was more of an off-the-cuff remark. A friend of Rams thought he recalled seeing a baseball bat in the
Barker Street living room in July 2003, 2 months before Ram purchased the one used to kill Tony. However, no other
bats were found during a search of the property. Although the timing was unfortunate,
Ram's defense didn't think there was anything suspicious about Ram buying the bat 2 days before the
murders. After all, it was Ram himself who'd told the police the bat belonged to him. He still had the receipt and the
transaction was on his bank statement. If this was a premeditated attack, as investigators insisted, then it didn't
make sense for Ram to admit that the bat was his or that he'd keep such an obvious paper
trail. The evidence indicated Tony hadn't arrived home until 2:05 p.m. and had been attacked anywhere between then
and 2:10 p.m. Ram had called emergency services at 2:20. If Ram had committed the crimes, why
would he have called for help so quickly when there was no pressure for him to do
so? Why give himself mere minutes to clean the crime scene, leaving just a small amount of Tony's blood on his feet
when he had plenty of time available to ensure a thorough cleanup? And why clean the baseball bat
after the attack on Chara Young, but not after the attack on Tony? [Music] When Ram Tari's trial began in June
2006, almost 3 years after the murders, the major focus was the blood evidence. The prosecution argued that
the reason none of Charlie Young's blood was on Ram was because he'd washed before murdering Tony.
The defense pointed out there was no evidence to indicate a cleanup had occurred and the only reason the very
small amount of Tony's blood was on Ram was because he had coughed while Ram was
checking on him. The prosecution called two expert witnesses who attested to the
impossibility of this scenario. One testified that Tony's head injuries would have immediately sent him into
such a deep state of unconsciousness that his cough reflex wouldn't have been functional. The other, a forensic
pathologist, agreed with this finding. However, upon cross-examination, he said that the cough reflex is lost gradually
and conceded that there was a remote possibility that Tony was not so deeply unconscious that he'd lost the ability
to cough. A neurologist named Dr. Mark Hirs gave evidence for the defense that the cough
reflex was one of the last things to go in severely injured patients. Dr. Hirs explained that if
damage was only done to the upper part of the brain, as in Tony's case, then the cough reflex could still be
activated. Dr. Hirsh was of the opinion that Tony not only could have coughed as
Ram claimed but that he would have. A neurosurgeon Dr. John Mat agreed. He explained that head injuries
are progressive in nature. Death can be slow occurring after brain stem function
stops and cardiac arrest occurs. Blood found in Tony's lungs indicated that his airway would have been
irritated, which Dr. Mat said would have caused an inevitable coughing reflex. He had witnessed this himself in
another patient. Given the position Tony's body was in, Dr. Mat believed that any
coughed up blood probably hadn't come from Tony's mouth, but through the knife wounds in his neck.
It was significant that the prosecution declined to cross-examine Dr. Mat. As a result of the expert
testimony, the judge instructed the jury that the prosecution's witnesses had not
provided proper evidence to convict Ram Tawari. He stated the state of the medical evidence
at the end of the day is that not only could Tony have coughed, but that he did. Ram chose not to take the
stand. The prosecution attacked his credibility based on what they claimed were the various lies he'd told during
the course of the investigation. There was his story about being asleep while the attacks took
place. the varying claims he'd told to friends about his presence at the crime scene, his denial that he owed any rent
money to Charlie Young, and the creation of the fictitious Andrew. Given all these lies, the
prosecution asked the jury. "Why would you believe anything else?" he said. After hearing all the evidence and
closing arguments, it took the jury 5 days of deliberation before reaching their
verdict. For the murders of Ta Chi Young and Tony Tan Pochan, they found Ramari guilty on all
counts. Some in court noted that the judge seemed genuinely surprised by this verdict.
Nonetheless, he ordered that Ram be removed from the courtroom and taken back to
prison. Ram's parents and brother, who had flown over from Singapore to attend the trial, watched on in shock and
dismay as the bor fled him away. At Ram's sentencing 5 months later, the judge stated that the
prosecution had not established adequate evidence to prove a motive. He said the
offender himself appears to have been a person of good character. Nothing has been produced to suggest that he was
prone to any form of violence. All the indications are that he and his two flatmates got on well
together. At the same time, it is obvious that only the most powerful motive could have provoked the offender
into committing two such extraordinarily violent murders. I am skeptical, however, that a dispute
over the payment of rent could have been sufficient to trigger the extremely violent attacks undertaken by the
offender. But this does not seem to me to matter very much since if the attack on Mr. Tay was provoked by a demand for
rent, it could not be regarded as in the slightest degree mitigating. The judge found no evidence that Ram was
suffering any form of psychiatric or mental health issues at the time he committed the
crimes. He believed the emotion Ram showed during the call to emergency services was genuine,
stating, "The significance of this finding is that although there was a substantial element of premeditation, at
least so far as Mr. Tan's murder was concerned. These acts of extreme violence were not committed with
indifference to the gravity and dreadfulness of what Ram Tawari was doing. I do not doubt that the offender
was emotionally affected by and was fully aware how heinous were the terrible acts that nevertheless he
deliberately committed. While the judge acknowledged that Ram's conviction had been a nightmare for his
family, he added, "At the same time, I should also acknowledge the dreadful sense of loss that has been suffered by
the families of the two murdered victims who lost their lives when they were still young, who had been successful at
their studies, and who had futures full of promise. Their families will continue
to suffer from this terrible loss without remission except for such slight relief as time might
afford. There is no evidence of remorse or contrition, as I do not know what led
the offender to commit these murders. I am unable to make any finding about the likelihood of rehabilitation one way or
another. The judge concluded that Tony Tan poans was the more serious of the two murders,
not because it was intrinsically more heinous, but because it was done to remove a potentially incriminating
witness from the scene, and thus there was no doubt that it was premeditated. Taking these factors into account, the
judge sentenced Ram Tawari to 25 years imprisonment for the murder of Charlie Young and to life for the murder of
Tony. Ram's lawyers appealed his conviction and sentence, arguing the verdicts were unreasonable and lacked
evidentary support. They highlighted the case's many unanswered questions, including Tony's
odd behavior on Monday, September 15, 2003. His apparent knowledge that Charlie Young would be absent from
university that day, and why he unexpectedly accepted a ride from strangers just before his
murder. If Ram was guilty, they questioned why he hadn't concealed key evidence such as notes on rent and the
baseball bat purchase. It took the panel of appellet judges 2 months to return with their decision,
which was handed down in December 2008, 5 years after the double homicide. In addition to agreeing that
the verdicts were unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence, the appellet judges acknowledged that the
inconsistent stories Ram told about what had happened on the day of the crimes did not make him a liar. On the
contrary, their judgment stated the trauma of the events may have been sufficient to cause an innocent
person in his position to be confused about their precise movements and recollection. The statement also pointed
out that if Ram's story was fake, he would be more likely to remember the details.
Their report stated that his version of events were quote so different you might have
thought if he was going to fabricate that he would have got it right especially if he is as the crown says as
cunning as the crown submits he is. The court of appeal quashed Ramari's sentences with the judges finding that
the trial had miscarried. However, they stopped short of acquitting Ram entirely and instead
ordered a retrial. By the time the retrial commenced in August 2009, Ram Tawari was
30 years old and had spent just over 5 years in prison. Although he hired a new defense team and
once again exercised his right to remain silent, the evidence presented by both sides was essentially the same as during
the first trial. The judge reminded the jury that the prosecution did not have to prove
the motive. And again, the jury reached the same verdict, guilty on both counts of murder.
However, this time the judge sentenced Ram to 25 years imprisonment for the murder of Ta Cha Young and only 40 years
for the murder of Tony Tan Po Chawan. This meant Ram would be eligible for parole in 2042, aged in his early
60s. For the next 2 and 1/2 years, Ram continued to maintain his innocence. Again, he appealed his conviction on the
grounds that the jury had reached its verdict based on unfounded evidence. In mid 2012, he was granted a
second appeal hearing in the Court of Criminal Appeal, which went ahead in July 2012. This time, to explain the lack of
blood on Ram or any of his clothing, the prosecution proposed a new theory. They claimed that Ram had committed the
attacks naked and then washed himself clean before calling for help. After a second day of questioning,
the appellet judges requested time to discuss among themselves. While the first appeal bench
had taken 2 months to reach their decision, the second took just 2 days. The Court of Criminal Appeal found that
there was considerable suspicion when it came to Ram's aversion of events. Although the prosecution's case
was plausible, the judges called several aspects into consideration, in particular the lack of forensic evidence
linking Ram to the crimes. They accepted that the small amount of blood on Ram could have come
from Tony coughing as he lay dying. In regards to the suggestion that Ram had committed the crimes naked, the judges
stated if the bathroom had been used by the appellant to wash himself, he would have had to carefully dry the bathroom
surfaces and himself. This would have required clothing or a towel which would have been
wet. No such wet clothes or towel were placed into evidence. Furthermore, if Ram had just bludgeoned
and stabbed Tony in a frenzied attack, the judges stated that the cleanup would have had to be very carefully handled.
Quote, "Sloppy or careless work will see him undone. The killing was in all likelihood done sometime after 2:05
p.m., possibly after 2:10 p.m. By 2:20 or 2:21 p.m., Ram has called emergency services. Not only is this barely enough
time to undertake the task of dispatching Mr. Tan, washing and drying himself, and washing and drying the
bathroom, but it raises the question why he would place himself under such time pressure.
The judges also found that Ram's voice showed genuine fear during the call and that at times it verged on
hysteria. While they acknowledged that emotions could be faked, they concluded, quote, "This would not appear to be the
action of someone who was methodically planned and affected the execution of both Mr. Tay and Tan."
Furthermore, they found that the inconsistencies in Ram's version of events could be explained by the trauma
he'd experienced in having witnessed the battered corpses of his friends. The judges sided with Ram in
asserting that many of the case's more puzzling aspects remained inadequately explained by the prosecution.
They found it reasonable to believe that the murders could have been committed by
whoever picked Tony up from university that day. If the driver of the car had simply
dropped Tony off at home, the judges questioned why they had not come forward to clear their names despite police
appeals for information. However, they also thought it was possible that Ram Tawari knew who that
person or their passengers were and that he might have more knowledge of what happened. Some of his behavior could
have potentially been explained by fear of consequences to himself. While it was
also possible that Ram had some complicity in the killings. Regardless, the possible involvement of
others combined with the lack of forensic evidence connecting Ram to the murders was enough to raise reasonable
doubt in their minds. With that, the judges overturned Ram's conviction and declared that a
third trial would not be necessary. After 8 years in prison, Ram Tawari was a free man.
Ram's period of incarceration had not been easy. Not only was he separated from his family in a foreign country and
struggling to understand a legal system he had no prior knowledge of, the unhygienic conditions of prison life led
Ram to develop obsessivecompulsive disorder. While Ram had always understood and
agreed that the circumstances of what happened on September 15, 2003 were suspicious, he'd spent years grappling
to understand how he could have been convicted for a double murder when so many elements of the case did not add
up. As Ram later wrote in his book titled 99 Months, the case of the Sydney Double Murders, he wondered whether
racism could have played a role. According to Ram, before his trial, a fellow inmate who had been
behind bars for a long time told him, "If you are brownskinned and you are charged with a violent crime, you will
be convicted. If you are yellow skinned and charged with a drug crime, you will be
convicted. If you are Aboriginal, look it, and are charged with any crime, you will be
convicted. If you fall outside those groups, only then does reasonable doubt come into play with the
jury. After his conviction was quashed, Ram returned to Singapore. He spent some
time traveling before returning to normal life, eager to fly under the radar as much as
possible. His years behind bars taught him to be grateful for every small joy in life, such as walking into a store,
enjoying a leisurely walk, or simply leaning out of an open window. In his book, Ram wrote that while he
tries not to be bitter about what happened to him, the question of why he was convicted continues to haunt
him. After years of research and discussions with various groups of people, Ram concluded that it all came
down to human nature on the part of the police and the jury. He wrote, "When tragedy strikes, we need
someone to blame. Most of us have an inherent belief that the system works. That when the police charge someone and
a prosecutor asserts in court that the defendant is guilty, they must be because why would the police
lie? I know this because up till the day of my arrest, I thought exactly the same
way. I discovered the hard way that this is not how the legal system works. It is
just easier to console with the conviction. The two detectives overseeing the investigation into
Charlie Young and Tony's murders were demoted in the wake of Ram's first trial. While Ram is grateful for what
his experience taught him, he claims there is one thing he will never find peace with. his decision to barricade
himself inside his bedroom on the day of the murders instead of going outside to
help. Ram wrote, "My reaction, which I profoundly regret and am so deeply ashamed of,
which I cannot fully explain to myself, much less to anyone else, which will haunt me every living day."
[Music] The news of Ram's aqu quiddle came as a huge shock to the family of Tony Tan
Pochawan who was steadfast in their belief that Ram was guilty and acted alone. Tony's sister told the Get Real
program. How can he be acquitted? Does that mean that my brother died for nothing? What right did Ram have to
appeal? It's like you're digging into the wounds of the victim's families, forcing them
to remember what happened. Tony's death and Ram's subsequent acquitt deeply impacted
Tony's family, who yearned for justice to be served. Seeking spiritual guidance,
Tony's mother visited a medium who advised her not to cry for Tony as it would make him sad.
Standing at Tony's graveside, his mother lovingly stroked a photo of her son, telling, "Get
real. Look at him. So beautiful. So handsome." It hurts us to think about how the bat came down on him. He died a
horrible death. He was beaten to death. It cuts my heart. Each time I come, I cry. But I
can't cry. He said, "I mustn't cry. We'll leave it to heaven. Heaven's watching." While Tony's family has been
vocal about the case, Charlie Youngs have maintained a low profile. They haven't spoken publicly
about the crime and didn't provide victim impact statements to the court. The driver and passengers of the white
car Tony was seen getting into on the day of the murders have never been identified and no one has been held
accountable for the two deaths. The bodies of Charlie Young and Tony were returned to Singapore. Their
time in Australia marked only by the degrees they were postumously granted by the University of New South
Wales. As investigative journalist Malcolm Knox explained in his SPS article, a violent
act. If justice was not delivered to anyone, it was in part because of a failure of
connection. The lives of the three men in that flat were not known deeply enough or sufficiently embedded in an
Australian city for the crime to be solved. The search for the killer or killers remains incomplete.
Just as so many Asian students pass through Australian cities like ghosts, their money taken and their degrees
given, so will these three [Music]

On September 15 2003, Singaporean student Ram Tiwary awoke in his Sydney apartment to find his two flatmates, Tony Tan Poh Chuan and Tay Chow Lyang, had been brutally murdered. A suspicious car seen in the area leads police on a hunt for the killers, until another suspect emerges closer to home.

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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Brief Summary

The episode details the 2003 double homicide of two students and Ram Tawari's wrongful conviction and subsequent acquittal after years in prison.

Key points

A Distressing Discovery. Ram Tawari finds his flatmates dead and calls for help, leading to a shocking scene.
The Horror Unfolds. Police discover the gruesome crime scene with two flatmates brutally murdered.
The Brutal Attack. Tony suffered severe injuries, including a broken jaw and multiple stab wounds.
Mysterious Circumstances. Investigators found no evidence of robbery or motive for the murders.
Ram's Suspicion. Detectives began to suspect Ram after inconsistencies in his story.
Financial Pressure. Ram was under significant financial stress, leading to potential motives for murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I should have but didn't.

Ram expresses regret for not helping his flatmates.

7:45WatchMay 10, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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