Justice Buttrose read the letter, which was signed by Sunny Ang: it was addressed to the Under Treasurer, Gray’s Inn, London WC1. Dear Sir, I am a student at the University of Singapore but I intend to join Gray’s Inn next year. My admission to the University of Singapore was gained not through obtaining a Higher School Certificate but through passing their University Entrance Examination. However I possess a School Certificate Grade 1 with distinctions in English and Science. I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me if I am eligible as a scholar with Gray’s Inn. Thanking you, I am, Yours faithfully, [sgd] S. Ang Sunny Ang: May I explain? His Lordship: Yes, indeed you may. Sunny Ang: I wrote the letter because I wanted to find out if there was any way of getting into Gray’s Inn without having two Principal Level subjects as advanced subjects. And I wanted to find out if, being a student at the University, and having passed the Entrance Examination, which I believe would be easier to do than to take the Higher School Certificate. Join the university for a few months and then qualify myself to — His Lordship: Yes, Ang, I accept all that. But the thing that the jury and I are interested in is: do you think that is a good way to start your entrance into Gray’s Inn, by writing to the Under Treasurer and telling him things that are not true? Do you think that is a good way to start your legal career? Sunny Ang: No, my Lord, but only I did it with the best of intentions. I had to present them with my qualification eventually, so there is no point in lying to them. I did intend to take the Entrance Examination. His Lordship: Supposing you did not succeed in passing, but failed: they still have your letter saying not only that you were a student at the University, but that you passed an examination you have not even sat for? Mr Francis Seow: That is the only time you departed from the truth? His Lordship: That is repetition, and we are wasting time.
Ang, by now, had firmly established himself as a man not to be believed. He admitted sending another letter stating he was, in 1964, a licenced commercial pilot, when in fact he was not.
Shown another entry in his 1964 diary, Ang wrote, ‘the police are damn sure she was murdered, i.e. she is dead’. He was asked by crown counsel if he wrote that. His Lordship: That is in your handwriting and you made that entry? Sunny Ang: Yes. (He smiles.) His Lordship: You seem to be amused. Is it funny? Sunny Ang: I have my reasons. His Lordship: Perhaps. We shall investigate that in a moment. Mr Francis Seow: Is she dead? Sunny Ang: Yes, to me she is dead. His Lordship: That is a matter for the jury and not for this witness.
Giving evidence about the chicken farm, which Ang said he had sold to Jenny (he said she had made two payments, one of $500 and another of $1,500, the remaining $8,000 to be paid out of profits), Sunny Ang said they did not intend to get married for five years. He agreed that Jenny had no experience in running a chicken farm.
Shortly after lunch on the third day of the defence, the 10th day of the trial, crown counsel cross-examined him about the fateful Tuesday afternoon. Ang said he knew it would take at least half an hour for the sampan to get to St John’s Island, and half an hour to get back. “Time was of the essence if this girl is to be rescued?” asked Mr Francis Seow. “Yes,” said Sunny Ang.
Asked why he did not use Jenny’s tank to dive down to search for her, he said it did not occur to him. His Lordship: Why not? Sunny Ang: If she had been anywhere round the boat I would have seen her air bubbles. His Lordship: Did you realize that this girl, whom you love and whom you were going to marry, had gone down and disappeared, and you calmly turn round to the boatman and said, ‘All right. Go to St John’s’? Sunny Ang: If she was anywhere around the boat we would have seen her air bubbles. His Lordship: It didn’t occur to you to go down and search for her? Sunny Ang: No. His Lordship: Why? Sunny Ang: Because I thought there was obviously a leak and also if she was anywhere around the boat we would have seen her air bubbles. Mr Francis Seow: But the point remains that the Sealion tank of Jenny in the boat could have been used if you had used it? Sunny Ang: Yes. Mr Francis Seow: And it had seven minutes of air or more? Sunny Ang: Yes. Mr Francis Seow: And your answer is: ‘It never occurred to me’? Sunny Ang: Yes. Mr Francis Seow: You had skin-diving equipment with you in the boat? Sunny Ang: Yes. Mr Francis Seow: The girl you were going to marry was obviously in difficulty, if not actually dead already. Why didn’t you use your skin-diving equipment to go down?
Sunny Ang paused for several long minutes. The courtroom was hushed when he replied, “I was not quite sure what sort of difficulties she was in. It occurred to me-it was a vague thought-that she might have been attacked by sharks. In fact, I remarked upon that to Yusuf. Not then, but long after the incident.”
His Lordship: You could have gone down to find out? Sunny Ang: She might have been attacked by sharks. Mr Francis Seow: Was one of the main reasons that sharks may be lurking where your boat was? Sunny Ang: Yes. Mr Francis Seow: Why did you bring her there in the first place, if sharks were lurking there? Sunny Ang: The idea of sharks being there never occurred to me. In fact, it was Yusuf who recommended the spot to me-I mean the Sister Islands. Mr Francis Seow: When did you change back into your street clothes? Sunny Ang: I think I remember I put them on, on my way to St John’s Island. Mr Francis Seow: So that when the Malay divers were going in you were then in your street clothes, and you saw no point in joining them? Sunny Ang: I do not say I saw no point. I was in my street clothes and there were more experienced skin-divers, and there were five of them. Besides I knew the chances of finding her were very slim. His Lordship: You never got into the water at all that day? You never got your feet wet? Sunny Ang: That is so.