Nadarajan s/o S Raman v Public Prosecutor

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Abdul Rahim B A Jalil
• Judgment Date: 16 February 2001
• Neutral Citation: [2001] SGDC 53
• Published date: 19 April 2005
• Year: 2001
• Citation: [2001] SGDC 53
• Court: District Court (Singapore)

Nadarajan s/o S Raman...appellant

v

Public Prosecutor ...respondent

Citation:	MA No 40 of 2001
Jurisdiction:	Singapore
Date:	2001:02:16
	2001:02:06, 2001:02:05, 2001:01:16, 2000:12:22, 2000:12:15
Court:	Subordinate Courts
Coram:	Abdul Rahim Jalil, District Judge
Counsel:	B Ganesh (Ganesha & Partners) for the appellant
	Wong Li Tien (Deputy Public Prosecutor) for the respondent

JUDGMENT:

Grounds of Judgment

The accused, Nadarajan s/o S Raman, was convicted after trial of the following charge:

You, Nadarajan s/o S Raman, male/25 yrs, NRIC No: S7520960F, are charged that you, on the 20^th day of February 2000, at or about 3.00 a.m., somewhere near the taxi stand of Clarke Quay, Singapore, which is a public place, did consort with one Adrian Stanley Raj s/o Selvarajoo, who had in his possession an offensive weapon, to wit, a dagger, in contravention of Section 6 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act, Chapter 65, in circumstances which raise a reasonable presumption that you knew that the said Adrian Stanley Raj s/o Selvarajoo had in his possession such weapon, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 8(1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act, Chapter 65.

Evidence adduced by the prosecution

2. The prosection’s case rested on the evidence of the main prosecution witness, Adrian Stanley Raj (‘Adrian’). Adrian testified that on 19^th February 2000 at about 5 p.m. he felt bored and called the accused to ask if there was work at Glitters Pub where the accused was working as a bouncer. The accused told Adrian that there was work for him that night and as a result, Adrian went to Glitters Pub at 7.30 p.m. that evening. After Adrian had finished working, his friend, one Suresh, came to pick him up at about 2.45 a.m. on 20^th February 2000. Suresh came with two other friends in his lorry. The four of them then discussed with the accused and they agreed to go to Clarke Quay for supper. According to Adrian, when they reached Clarke Quay, he saw the accused there with a few of his friends, including the accused’s girlfriend and a friend known as Charles, on the road pavement behind the taxi stand. Suresh parked his lorry along the roadside behind the taxi stand and he, Adrian and his two friends got out of the lorry and stood at the road pavement.

3. Adrian said that a few minutes after his arrival, the accused went to him when he was near to Suresh’s lorry and passed him a dagger to hold on to. The accused handed the dagger in a black leather sheath to him. According to Adrian, the accused merely told him to hold on to the dagger but he did not specify what purpose it was for and for how long he was to keep it. As it was uncomfortable for him to hold on to the dagger, he decided to leave it in Suresh’s lorry. Adrian clarified that the dagger was bulky and he did not want to hold it in his hand or pocket. Thus he slipped it under the sunshield on top of the driver’s cabin of the lorry.

4. Adrian added that no one else was around when the accused came over to hand the dagger over to him and Suresh and his two friends were then talking among themselves and to some other people some distance away. The accused’s friends were also about 4.7 metres away from Adrian and the accused.

5. A few minutes later, a fight broke out involving some people who looked like foreigners at the taxi stand. Adrian then went to where Suresh and his friends were and they decided that they should go elsewhere for supper. Adrian and Suresh boarded Suresh’s lorry. Thereafter, Suresh drove the lorry and made a U-turn and parked at the opposite side of the road to wait for Suresh’s friends. After parking, a police patrol car came and stopped beside Suresh’s lorry. The policemen got out of their vehicle and checked the particulars of Suresh and Adrian. They then started to check the lorry. On checking, one of the policemen found the dagger at the place where Adrian had earlier placed it, that is, under the sunshield of the driver’s cabin. Adrian was placed under arrest.

6. Adrian was subsequently charged and convicted for an offence of possession of an offensive weapon under section 22(1) of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act and was sentenced to eight weeks’ imprisonment.

Findings at end of case for the prosecution

7. The accused made no submission that there was no case to answer at the end of the prosecution’s case.

8. I considered the evidence adduced by the prosecution. There was evidence that on the date, time and place as stated in the charge, Adrian had contravened section 6 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act by having a dagger with him. With regard to whether the accused had consorted with Adrian, ‘consort’ is defined in ‘Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English’ as ‘pass time in the company off’ and in ‘The Oxford Concise Dictionary’ as ‘class or bring together, keep company, (with)’. In the present case, the evidence showed that the accused had kept company with Adrian at the time when Adrian came into possession of the dagger. 9. On whether the consorting took place in circumstances that raised a reasonable presumption that the accused knew that Adrian possessed the dagger, that must be the case as the accused was the person who had handed the weapon to him. I accordingly called upon the accused to enter upon his defence.

The defence

Accused’s testimony

10. The accused in his defence did not deny that Adrian called him on the evening of 19^th February 2000 to ask if there was work for him at Glitters Pub. The accused told him that there was. The accused said that he left for Glitters Pub with his girlfriend Kamaljit Kaur (‘Kamaljit’) before Adrian arrived.

11. The accused further said that at about 3.00 a.m. on 20^th February 2000 after completing his work, he left Glitters Pub with Kamaljit and a friend, Irudayaraj Anthony Charles (‘Charles’). They were going to Clarke Quay to pick up Charles’ girlfriend, one Sathiya, and then proceed for supper. The accused asked Adrian if he wanted to join them for supper and Adrian agreed. According to the accused, the agreement was that Adrian and his four friends would go for supper with the accused and since they had not decided where to go, they agreed to meet at the taxi stand at Clarke Quay and decide from there where to go for supper.

12. The accused’s version was that he, Kamaljit and Charles proceeded to Clarke Quay in a lorry driven by Charles. On reaching Clarke Quay, Charles parked the lorry behind the taxi stand on the side of the road. Thereafter, Adrian and his friends arrived and the lorry they were in stopped in front of Charles’ lorry. About two seconds later, a police car came and stopped beside Charles’ lorry. A policeman in the police car gave a signal to Charles to move off from the roadside and Charles drove off and stopped in front of the taxi stand. After Charles drove off, the lorry with Adrian and his friends drove past Charles’ lorry to make a U-turn further ahead.

13. A short while later, Sathiya came out of the lorry and the accused saw Suresh’s lorry being spot-checked by a few police officers. Charles then drove off to a coffee-shop nearby at Tank Road for supper. The accused said that while they were having supper there, he tried to call Adrian’s mobile hand-phone but it was off. By that time it was about 4 a.m. and he and his group had intended to go home. The next morning, the police called the accused for investigations.

Kamaljit’s evidence

14. Kamaljit was the accused’s girlfriend of two years. She said that she went to Glitters Pub with the accused at about 7.30 p.m. on 19^th February 2000. They were there at the pub until it was closed at about 3.00 a.m. when she, the accused and Charles proceeded in Charles’ lorry to Clarke Quay to wait for Charles’ girlfriend.

15. According to Kamaljit, after they arrived at Clarke Quay, Charles parked his lorry just behind the taxi stand. All of them got out of the lorry to wait for Sathiya. Shortly later, Adrian and his friends arrived in another lorry. Adrian and two of his friends got down from the lorry. Soon after, a police car came and the policeman told them to move away. Kamaljit said she got into the lorry with Charles and the accused. Charles then drove the lorry ahead in front of the taxi stand and waited for Sathiya.

16. Kamaljit added that she saw the lorry that Adrian was in making a U-turn in front and going to the opposite side of the road....