struggle against the two men at gunpoint, the revolver was discharged during the scuffle and Chew collapsed, and the firing of the revolver was not on purpose. Similarly, Lim testified on the stand that he never meant to shoot Chew during the fight between him and Chew, as the gun had somehow went off without notice and wounded Chew on the chest, and the two men had to flee from the scene before they can be caught, leaving Chew to die at his shop. In response, the prosecution submitted that Lim intentionally fired the gun to kill Chew, and the death of Chew was caused in furtherance of the duo's common intention to commit robbery and by application of the provisions under Section 34 of the Penal Code, Neoh should be held equally liable to a charge of murder like Lim, since he and Lim shared a common intention to commit robbery and murder, and they had planned to use the gun to facilitate their crime and use violence if necessary, and made plans to wait for the opportunity to commit armed robbery. Verdict On 8 November 1973, the trial judges Choor Singh and D. C. D'Cotta ruled in their verdict that both 29-year-old Neoh Bean Chye and 25-year-old Lim Kim Huat were accordingly found guilty of the charge of murdering 42-year-old Chew Liew Tea, after they accepted the prosecution's arguments and rejected the men's defences of accidental shooting or no intention to kill. Neoh and Lim were both automatically sentenced to death upon their conviction for murder, as capital punishment was prescribed as the mandatory sentence for all four offences of murder under the Penal Code and judges in Singapore had no discretion (up until 2013) to impose any other punishments apart from death in these cases. Neoh and Lim were reported as among the 17 inmates held on death row at Changi Prison pending their executions as of February 1974, for which the number decreased to 15 by October 1974 while they were appealing their sentences. Among these inmates (most of whom convicted for murder) include the seven murderers of the Gold Bars triple murders, who were later executed for killing a businessman and two others for 120 gold bars. Aftermath Appeal processes In July 1974, both Neoh Bean Chye and Lim Kim Huat appealed to the Court of Appeal to review their cases, but the three judges