SINGAPORE. EXECUTIONER WANTS OUT BUT CAN'T FIND REPLACEMENT

it was reported that Singapore's chief executioner Darshan Singh, the man due to execute convicted Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, was a 73-year-old grandfather who could not retire because no-one would take his job.
The Singaporean government looked set to take the 25-year-old Melbourne man to the gallows, after rejecting his appeal for clemency on October 21. Singh had hanged more than 850 prisoners in his 46 years in the role.
It was reported that prior to hanging someone he said: "I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless you."
Singh was not permitted by law to speak publicly about his job, but a colleague said: "He tried to train two would-be hangmen to replace him, a Malaysian and a Chinese, both in the prison service.
"But when it came to pulling the lever for the real thing, they both froze and could not do it. "The Chinese guy, a prison officer, became so distraught he walked out immediately and resigned from the prison service altogether."