drug rehabilitation centre in January 1992. It was only after he met his girlfriend when Indra finally lessen his drug intake. Trial proceedings On 8 September 1994, Indra Wijaya Ibrahim stood trial at the High Court for the murder of Loo Kwee Hwa. At the first day of trial however, Indra requested to dismiss his lawyers Subhas Anandan and Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed, and the trial was postponed to 16 January 1995, with P. Suppiah representing Indra as his new lawyer, and the original trial judge T S Sinnathuray was replaced by S. Rajendran to hear the case. Lee Sing Lit was the trial prosecutor of the case. The prosecution's case was that Indra had the intention to murder Loo due to his need for money. Indra had earlier confessed that he had targeted Loo after seeing her draped in gold and jewellery at the HDB block where she originally was to visit a friend. Indra also admitted to purchasing a paper cutter with the intention to commit robbery, and he also used it to slit Loo on the throat and even took away all her jewellery, after he put up a fight with the elderly woman, who tried to resist his attack with her umbrella. The murder weapon itself was never found despite search efforts by the police. Indra's main defence was diminished responsibility. He stated that at that time, he and his girlfriend had fallen out due to a misunderstanding and hence, he wanted to buy her a birthday gift to celebrate her birthday on 18 April, and to reconcile with her. Indra stated that he was also depressed about the argument and hence, he drank heavily and took drugs again, despite staying away from it since his release from a drug rehabilitation centre (where he spent four months). He stated that on the day of the murder, he drank awhole bottle of stout and even took four Dormicum pills to relieve himself of his heartbreak. He also testified he was gradually intoxicated by the effects of alcohol and Dormicum pills, and it was so severe that when he followed Loo and began to rob her, he could not remember how he was armed with the knife and how he exactly harmed the old woman and caused her death. The defence sought to reduce Indra's murder charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, as they relied on the