Joseph Grimberg, SC
Born(1933-04-08)8 April 1933
Died17 August 2017(2017-08-17) (aged 84)
Singapore
Other namesJoe Grimberg
OccupationLawyer

Joseph Grimberg, SC was a Singaporean prominent lawyer and former Supreme Court judge.

After completing his education and studies in law, Grimberg joined Drew & Napier when he was called to the Singapore Bar in 1957. He was a senior partner at the law firm from 1967 to 1987, when he was appointed Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court in 1987.

During his time as Judicial Commissioner, one of the cases which Grimberg presided was the 1984 Amex banker murder case, where a banker named Frankie Tan was murdered by his foster brother Vasavan Sathiadew and three hired Thai killers, as planned by Tan's wife to avenge his frequent infidelity and spousal abuse. Except for one Thai killer (who escaped Singapore and went missing till today), the rest of the five were arrested and charged with murder. After a trial lasting 45 days, Grimberg, together with High Court judge T. S. Sinnathuray, found three of the four killers (the fourth was found guilty of manslaughter instead) guilty of murder and sentenced them to death by hanging on 6 October 1989.[1][2] Sinnathuray and Grimberg's verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal, resulting in the three killers being executed in October 1992.[3][4]

Grimberg was also one of the two judges (the other being Lai Kew Chai) who sentenced Sim Ah Cheoh, a housewife and single mother of two sons, and her two bosses - Lim Joo Yin and Ronald Tan Chong Ngee - to death in 1988 for attempting to illegally import 1.37 kg of heroin from Singapore to the USA. Sim was later granted clemency and her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1992, while both Lim and Tan were executed.[5][6]

In 1989, he re-joined Drew & Napier as a consultant. In 1997, Grimberg became one of the first lawyers in Singapore to be appointed Senior Counsel.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

Death

Grimberg died on 17 August 2017, at the age of 84.

Legacy

Several awards have been named after Grimberg, such as SMU School of Law's Top Advocate prizes and the Singapore Academy of Law's Outstanding Young Advocate prize.

References

  1. ↑ "Three sentenced to death for murder of Amex banker". National Library Board. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "共谋杀害陈铁城三被告判处死刑" (in Chinese). National Library Board. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "S'porean, two Thais hanged for 1 984 murder of banker". National Library Board. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  4. ↑ True Files S2 - EP6: Jealousy knows no limit. Channel 5. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 2020-08-14 – via meWATCH.
  5. ↑ "Housewife and 2 men to hang for drug trafficking". The Straits Times. 30 July 1988. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  6. ↑ "这11人在新加坡犯了滔天大罪也能有退路". 红蚂蚁 (in Chinese). 3 January 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  7. ↑ "Former Supreme Court judge Joseph Grimberg dies". Channel NewsAsia. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  8. ↑ Vijayan, K.C. (17 August 2017). "Prominent lawyer Joe Grimberg dies, aged 84". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  9. ↑ Vijayan, K.C. (18 August 2017). "'Finest of his time', lawyer and ex-judge Joe Grimberg dies". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  10. ↑ Vijayan, K.C. (9 September 2017). "Ex-judge's humility captured in oral history interview". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  11. ↑ "Interview with Mr. Joseph Grimberg". HeinOnline. 1990. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  12. ↑ "Joe Grimberg Top Advocate Prizes". Singapore Management University. Retrieved 2017-10-06.


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