FOUR immigration offenders left their 37-year-old landlord in his flat bound and gagged - but alive - when he threatened to call the police after they refused his demands for 'pocket money'.
The next day, one of them phoned his 53-year-old girlfriend to return to free him, but she did not, thinking it was a ruse to trick her back after an earlier tiff.
Ms Masmi Osman came by the following day but forgot her keys.
When she finally entered the Ghim Moh flat, three days after her live-in boyfriend Mohamad Azanil Aman was trussed up, he was dead.
Based on an autopsy report, Mr Azanil was alive for some 50 hours before he suffocated to death.
A piece of cloth had been firmly looped around his neck; a towel covered his nose and mouth; and a queen-size bedsheet was wrapped around his head.
On Friday, Md Mosharaf, 21; Shamim Ahmed, 37; Sobuj Miah, 21; and Mamun, 34 were each jailed four years after pleading guilty to killing Mr Azanil on the night of Dec 9, 2007.
The Bangladeshis were also sentenced to between a year's jail and three strokes of the cane and three months' jail and six strokes of the cane for immigration offences.
Justice Lee Seiu Kin said he could not ignore the fact that they had ganged up against the dead man and had gone overboard in tying him up.
However, he added, that death came after more than two days showed that the restraints were not that tight.
The High Court judge also took into account that Shamim was concerned enough to call Ms Masmi.
Unfortunately, she did not immediately return to the flat, which turned out to be fatal to Mr Azanil, said Justice Lee.
