Public Prosecutor v An Heejung

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Victor Yeo Khee Eng
• Judgment Date: 16 March 2015
• Neutral Citation: [2015] SGDC 59
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC 912847/2014
• Year: 2015
• Published date: 20 March 2015
• Hearing Date: 23 December 2014,20 January 2015,16 March 2015
• Plaintiff Counsel: DPP Ramesh Ethan
• Defendant Counsel: Mr Ang Gek Peng (Eastern Law Corporation)
• Citation: [2015] SGDC 59

District Judge Victor Yeo Khee Eng:

INTRODUCTION

This judgement arose from an appeal against sentence by the prosecution. The accused, a South Korean national, male/46 years old, pleaded guilty to a single charge of using criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty under section 353 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 (2008 Rev. Ed). The charge read as follows:

“that you, on 10 June 2014, at or about 10.50pm, somewhere along Jalan Kechil Singapore, did use criminal force on one Police Sergeant Muhammad Taufiq bin Ramli, a public servant in the execution of his duty as such public servant, to wit, by kicking him twice on his chest while he was speaking to you, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under section 353 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 (2008 Rev. Ed.)”

The punishment prescribed for the offence is one of an imprisonment term which may extend to 4 years, or with fine, or with both. I imposed a fine of $6,000/- in default 3 weeks’ imprisonment. The accused has paid the fine. I now give the reasons for the sentence imposed.

The Statement of Facts

The accused admitted to the Statement of Facts without qualification. The salient facts revealed that on 10 June 2014, the accused who had been drinking alcohol with some colleagues at the Tanjong Pagar area, was picked up by a taxi driver of SHA 2993X at about 10.15pm.

When the accused boarded the taxi, he told the taxi driver that he wanted to go to “Upper Bukit Timah” and the taxi driver then drove his taxi in that general direction. The accused, who was drunk, fell asleep along the way and the taxi driver could no longer communicate with him.

The taxi driver then decided to stop his taxi somewhere along Jalan Jurong Kechil and called the police for assistance. He informed the police that his passenger was drunk and was unable to wake up.

Police Sergeant Muhammad Taufiq bin Ramli (“the victim”) and two other police officers who were on duty and had been patrolling in the vicinity were despatched to the scene.

Upon arrival, the victim approached the accused inside the taxi. The victim told the accused to wake up and the accused looked at him aggressively before lying down on the passenger seat.

As the accused had ignored the victim, the victim tried to speak to him again. However, the accused suddenly kicked the victim twice on his chest, before coming out of the taxi and raising his fist at him.

The accused was then arrested on the spot and taken into custody. He was eventually charged accordingly.

The victim was seen at the Emergency Medicine Department of Alexandra Hospital on 11 June 2014 at about 1.38am. A medical report prepared by Dr Ahmad Syahir bin Mohd Rosli revealed that the victim suffered mild pain over the right chest. Chest X-ray revealed no rib fracture. The victim was discharged with analgesia and medical certificate.

ANTECEDENT

The accused was a first offender.

MITIGATION

In the accused’s mitigation plea, his learned counsel highlighted that the accused is married with a daughter who is studying in Secondary One in a local school. His wife is a housewife.

The accused has been working in Singapore for about 5½ years since June 2009. He is the Country Administration Manager of a Korean construction company involved in several MRT and cable tunnelling projects. He is in-charge of Human Resource Management, Accounting and Finance and General Administration.

As regards the circumstances surrounding the offence, his learned counsel highlighted that sometime in June 2014, the accused’s immediate supervisor made a working visit to Singapore. On the night in question, the accused had a company dinner gathering together with his immediate supervisor and 8 other South Korean colleagues in a Korean restaurant at Tanjong Pagar. The gathering started at 6.30pm and ended at 10.00pm. The accused was in a celebratory mood due to his recent promotion and drank Korean whisky “Soju” with his colleagues on this rare occasion. However, the accused who is not a habitual drinker over consumed and became very intoxicated.

After dinner, a colleague hailed a taxi for him to go home. The accused fell asleep during the journey. The offence occurred when the police officer attended to him and tried to wake him up. The victim also did not suffer any serious injury.

His learned counsel submitted various testimonials from the President of the accused’s Church and his colleagues to show that the accused is of good character. He is a devout Christian, and is a polite and soft-spoken person who has a gentle and benign character. He is not violent in nature and is a responsible and helpful person.

His learned counsel further submitted that the accused is a respectful and law-abiding person and he was co-operative during the investigations. He is remorseful and has pleaded guilty. He was a first offender and the offence was an isolated one-off incident and that what he...