IG Stories screengrab: Natalie Siow @supnxt
Orchard Towers murder: Natalie Siow released from jail
Singapore—On Monday (Jan 18), Natalie Siow Yu Zhen, who made the news in 2019 for being the only woman among the group that had been charged for a murder in Orchard Tower, went home from jail.
Siow had served over 200 days in prison.
On July 2, 2019, Satheesh Noel Gobidass collapsed near an escalator at Orchard Towers and was found lying motionless in a pool of blood. Members of the public attended to his injuries.
The police were alerted at 6.25 am and the victim was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital unconscious and pronounced dead an hour later.
Afterward, the then 23-year-old Siow was charged with the murder of Mr Satheesh, along with Tan Hong Sheng, 22; Loo Boon Chong, 25; Tan Sen Yang, 28; and Joel Tan Yun Sheng, Chan Jia Xing and Ang Da Yuan, all of whom were 26 years old at that time.
Court documents showed that Siow, and Tan Sen Yang, Joel Tan Yun Sheng and Ang kicked and punched Mr Satheesh after a fight that ensued at the “Naughty Girl Club” at level two of Orchard Towers.
In October of that year, the charge of murder against her had been reduced to one of assault.
The former part-time pub waitress was sentenced to five months in jail on Oct 9, 2020.
She had already served 107 days in detention previous to her jail sentence last year.
She pleaded guilty to consorting with Tan Sen Yang, who possessed the karambit knife that killed the victim, the only one in the group who eventually faced a murder charge.
Siow also admitted to voluntarily causing hurt to Mr Satheesh.
In her sentencing, one charge of disorderly conduct was also taken into consideration.
Siow posted a series of short clips on Instagram Stories after her release on Jan 18, including one with a bunch of flowers that she captioned “Thank you.”
Another showed a balloon where the words “Welcome back, Natalie,” were written.
Last October, the prosecutor in her case, Deputy Public Prosecutor Benedict Teong, had sought a jail term of nine months for Siow, saying that it had been “a case of group violence against a single victim” and that the murder had caused significant public disquiet.
Her lawyer, Amarick Gill of Amarick Gill LLC, did not dispute what the DPP said, but said that Siow had learnt her lesson.
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“It is quite fair and Natalie understands that. She has learnt her lesson. I don’t see this girl re-offending, ever.”
Siow was quoted in an interview as saying, “When it comes to drinking I get agitated and aggressive sometimes, I know being drunk is not an excuse. At that point in time I saw my male friends having problems with people.
I did not know the incident resulted in the Indian guy’s death, when I was at level one I saw (his) face (had) a lot of blood…(I am) sorry for his death and did not know he would die.”
/TISG
Read also: Orchard Towers murder: Natalie Siow disputes 1 charge and claims trial http://theindependent.sg/orchard-towers-murder-natalie-siow-disputes-1-charge-and-claims-trial/