SINGAPORE - Three Singaporean men were charged with murder, and one with rioting, on Thursday (Jan 7), after the death of a 30-year-old American man following an incident along Circular Road on Christmas Eve last year.

Muhammad Khalis Ramlee, Muhammad Haziq Hashim and Muhammad Izzuandy Yusof, all age 23, are accused of intentionally causing the death of Mr John Denley Nelson, a Universal Studios Singapore stuntman. The trio face the mandatory death penalty if convicted of the charges.

Another Singaporean man, Syed Muhammad Salleh Syed Sallahudin, also 23, faces a charge of rioting, by being part of an unlawful assembly that comprised at least 17 people, including Khalis, Haziq and Izzuandy.

The group is alleged to have assaulted eight victims, including Mr Nelson. Salleh faces up to seven years' jail and caning, if convicted.

District Judge Christopher Goh granted the police prosecutor's application to remand the four suspects for a week at the Central Police Division, with permission to take them out for investigations.

Their cases will be mentioned again on Jan 14.

Mr Nelson, who was from Michigan in the US, came to Singapore in 2009.

He was hurt badly after a brawl outside a Circular Road club, near Mogambo Bar, in the wee hours of Dec 24, last year.

It was reported that he had suffered traumatic head injuries and was put in an induced coma at the intensive care unit of Singapore General Hospital. He died on Jan 1, without regaining consciousness.

Mr Nelson's employers, Amphibian Stunts, which produces and manages the Waterworld @ USS live show, had said he had been with the company for six years.

In a statement on Wednesday (Jan 6), the police said a total of 14 suspects - 11 men and three women aged between 20 and 42 - had been arrested in connection with the incident.

Other than Salleh, nine others have already been charged with rioting.