Muhammad Radi v Public Prosecutor

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judgment Date: 21 February 1994
• Date: 21 February 1994
• Docket Number: Criminal Appeal No 28 of 1992
• Court: Court of Appeal (Singapore)

Muhammad Radi

Plaintiff

and

Public Prosecutor

Defendant

[1994] SGCA 23

Yong Pung How CJ

,

M Karthigesu JA

and

L P Thean JA

Criminal Appeal No 28 of 1992

Court of Appeal

Criminal Law–Offences–Murder–Whether injuries inflicted by accused sufficient in ordinary course of nature to cause death–Whether more than one inference could be drawn from accused's acts of concealing and abandoning deceased

The appellant was convicted of murder. He had allegedly struck the deceased several times with a stick, dragged her into the kitchen and forcibly pushed her into a crouching position under the kitchen ledge. He then covered the body with a canvas sheet and she was left abandoned there. The trial judge found that the appellant had committed acts which were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

The appellant's two main grounds of appeal were that:

1. (a) It could not be conclusively said that the injuries inflicted were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.

2. (b) More than one inference could be drawn from the appellant's subsequent acts of concealing and abandoning the deceased and the one most favourable to him must be drawn by the court.

Held, dismissing the appeal:

(1) There were no external intervening factors and it was clear that the series of acts of the appellant had caused the death of the deceased, regardless of whether she had died instantly from the blows or several hours later. The appellant's acts of pushing the deceased under the kitchen ledge and covering her with a canvas could not be isolated from his acts of hitting the deceased on her head. If she had not died as a result of the blows on her head but had been merely unconscious, the appellant's acts of concealing the deceased behind a canvas sheet and abandoning her would have caused or at least led to her death: at [11].

(2) The appellant's acts of concealing and abandoning the body of the deceased were so intimately connected with his act of striking the deceased that all the acts must be treated as only one transaction. The appellant took careful and calculated steps to ensure that the deceased would not be easily discovered by third parties, and left her in that position without taking any further interest in her. The appellant had intended to inflict the injuries on the deceased, and the acts with the injuries taken together were sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death: at [13] and [14].

Rajwant Singh v State of KeralaAIR 1966 SC 1874 (refd)

Tan Cheow Bock v PP [1991] 2 SLR (R) 608; [1991] SLR 293 (refd)

Penal Code (Cap 224,1985 Rev Ed)ss 300 (c), 302

Subhas Anandan (M P D Nair & Co) and Sivaratnam Kandasamy (S Ratnam & Associates) (assigned) for the appellant

Bala Reddy and Yeow Ping Lin (Deputy Public Prosecutors) for the respondent.

Yong Pung How CJ

(delivering the judgment of the court):

1 The appellant was charged that, sometime between 8 and 12 September 1989, at the vacant teachers' quarters at Sembawang Primary School at Jalan Mata Ayer, Singapore, he committed murder...