Public Prosecutor v Choo Peng Kuen

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Pang Khang Chau JC
• Judgment Date: 22 October 2018
• Neutral Citation: [2018] SGHC 230
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: Criminal Case No 18 of 2018
• Published date: 03 August 2019
• Year: 2018
• Hearing Date: 07 May 2018,27 March 2018,28 March 2018,30 April 2018,14 August 2018,29 March 2018
• Plaintiff Counsel: Ang Feng Qian and Zhou Yihong (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Chua Eng Hui (RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP) and Wong Seow Pin (S P Wong & Co)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law,Statutory offences,Misuse of Drugs Act,general exceptions,unsoundness of mind
• Citation: [2018] SGHC 230

Pang Khang Chau JC: Introduction

The accused, Choo Peng Kuen, a 51-year-old male Singaporean faced a capital charge of possessing not less than 36.42 g of diamorphine for the purposes of trafficking, an offence under section 5(1)(a) read with s 5(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed) (“the MDA”). The accused claimed trial to the capital charge. Ten other charges were stood down by the Prosecution.

The proceeded charge (“capital charge”) states:

That you, CHOO PENG KUEN,

on 19 February 2015 at about 2.37 a.m., in unit #04-14 of Siglap V Condominium located at No. 881 East Coast Road, Singapore 458278, Singapore, did traffic a Class ‘A’ controlled drug listed in the First Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed), to wit, you possessed for the purpose of trafficking fifteen (15) packets and two (02) straws containing not less than 1302.09 grams of granular/powdery substance which was analysed and found to contain not less than 36.42 grams of diamorphine, without authorisation under the said Act or the Regulations made thereunder, and you have thereby committed an offence under s 5(1)(a) read with s 5(2) punishable under s 33(1) of the Act, and further upon your conviction under s 5(1)(a) read with s 5(2) of the Act, you may alternatively be liable to be punished under s 33B of the Act.

[Emphases in original.]

The accused’s defence relied mainly on psychiatric evidence to assert that he was suffering from mental disorders which negated his intent to possess all 36.42 g of the diamorphine, and/or which caused him to follow the command of an auditory hallucination to purchase part of the diamorphine (27.61 g) for the purpose of smoking himself to death on it.

After hearing extensive psychiatric evidence and considering the submissions from the learned deputy public prosecutors and defence counsel, I disbelieved the accused’s defence, and convicted the accused on the capital charge. I further found that the accused was not a courier within the meaning of s 33B(3)(a) of the MDA. Accordingly, I sentenced the accused to suffer the death penalty as mandated by law.

The accused has appealed against his conviction and sentence. I now provide the reasons for my decision.

Facts The undisputed facts

The Defence accepted most of the Prosecution’s evidence,¹ which was adduced largely by way of the Statement of Agreed Facts (“ASOF”) pursuant to s 267 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68, 2012 Rev Ed), as well as the uncontested statements of 48 witnesses under s 264 of the CPC (“conditioned statements”). In the main, the trial focussed on the psychiatric state of the accused. However, it will be helpful to set out the key facts as established in the ASOF and the undisputed conditioned statements.

The arrest and discovery of drugs on 18 February 2015

On 18 February 2015, the Police were tipped off about a firearm located at the accused’s apartment at the Siglap V Condominium. At or about 11:20 pm, Deputy Superintendent Burhanudeen Haji Hussainar (“DSP Burhan”) spotted the accused at the basement carpark of the Siglap V Condominium.² DSP Burhan and Assistant Superintendent Chris Lee Tien Huat (“ASP Lee”) approached the accused. He was questioned and then searched.³

The accused was carrying a black clutch bag. Inside were two stacks of $50 notes totalling $10,000, five handphones, and two packets of crystalline substance. ⁴ Upon further questioning, the accused admitted that the crystalline substance was “ice” (a street name for methamphetamine), which he intended for his own consumption.⁵

Simultaneously, a group of officers detained the accused’s friend, Lim Chin Huat Jerry (“Jerry”), along with Jerry’s girlfriend, “Poo”.⁶ At the time of the offence, the accused was residing in a room, while Jerry resided in the other room, in the accused’s two-room apartment.⁷ The accused, Jerry, and “Poo” were accosted by the officers as they were leaving the apartment for dinner.⁸

The accused led the officers to his apartment and pointed out his bedroom, where a search was conducted. No firearm was found. However, in the course of the search, ASP Lee discovered several packets of brown granular substances in the bottom drawer of a computer table in the accused’s bedroom. The search was discontinued and the Central Narcotics Bureau (“the CNB”) was called in to take over the investigation.⁹

For ease of reference, I include a table of the following exhibits seized from the computer table, together with the corresponding analysis results from the Health Sciences Authority (“HSA”):¹⁰

Place found	CNB Exhibit label	Details of exhibit	Gross weight	Net weight of diamorphine
From the top of the computer table (“C”)	C2	One straw of granular/powdery substance	0.21 g	Not analysed for net weight
From the top drawer of the computer table (“D”)	D1	Four packets and one straw containing a granular/powdery substance	47.93 g	1.00 g
From the bottom drawer of the computer table (“E”)	E5	One packet of granular/powdery substance	231.4 g	5.59 g
E6A	Five packets of granular/powdery substance	37.40 g	0.60 g
E7	One packet of granular/powdery substance	67.85 g	1.62 g
E1	One packet of granular/powdery substance	231.0 g	6.71 g
E2	One packet of granular/powdery substance	229.1 g	6.14 g
E3	One packet of granular/powdery substance	227.4 g	7.73 g
E4	One packet of granular/powdery substance	229.8 g	7.03 g
Total gross weight of heroin: 1,302.09 g Exhibits C2, D1, E5, E6A, and E7 comprising net weight of 8.81 g of diamorphine were from the first shipment referred to at [18] below. Exhibits E1, E2, E3, and E4 comprising net weight of 27.61 g of diamorphine were from the second shipment referred to at [20] below. Total net weight of diamorphine: 36.42 g

Various other drug exhibits and paraphernalia were seized from the accused’s computer table and from a dining table in the living room of the accused’s apartment.¹¹ Many of these non-diamorphine drug exhibits formed the subject matter of the stood down charges. Seven phones belonging to the accused (including those stated at [8] above) were also seized.¹²

The accused’s drug trafficking activities up to 14 February 2015

The accused gave various recorded statements to the Investigation Officer, Shafiq Basheer (“IO Shafiq”). These included: Cautioned statement under s 23 of the CPC, recorded on 22 February 2015, at about 5:15 pm (“the first statement”); Statement under s 22 of the CPC, recorded on 23 February 2015, at about 5:57 pm (“the second statement”); Statement under s 22 of the CPC, recorded on 3 March 2015, at about 9:00 pm (“the third statement”); Statement under s 22 of the CPC, recorded on 4 March 2015, at about 3:38 pm (“the fourth statement”); Statement under 22 of the CPC, recorded on 4 March 2015, at about 9:32 pm (“the fifth statement”); Statement under s 22 of the CPC, recorded on 5 March 2015, at about 9:32 pm (“the sixth statement”); and Statement under s 22 of the CPC, recorded on 5 March 2015, at about 11:34 pm (“the seventh statement”).

The accused’s statements were admitted pursuant to IO Shafiq’s conditioned statement.¹³ The accused agreed that the statements were recorded accurately, and not recorded under oppressive circumstances. He had given all of these statements voluntarily, without any threat, inducement, or promise.¹⁴

The accused revealed that he had been arrested on an earlier drug trafficking charge in May 2013 and had recently been released on bail on September 2014. Sometime in October 2014, whilst on bail, the accused relapsed into smoking heroin. He had also returned to his drug trafficking activities, as he claimed he needed money to pay for his lawyers’ fees. During this time, the accused began to acquire his own clients, and dealt with various suppliers, including a Malaysian drug supplier known to him as “Billa Visu”.¹⁵

The accused accepted that, as part of his drug trafficking activities, he would use weighing scales to weigh the heroin and repack them into small plastic packets. The accused moved into the Siglap V Condominium on 18 January 2015. Drug couriers from the accused’s Malaysian suppliers would go directly to the Siglap V Condominium to deliver drugs to the accused.¹⁶

The two shipments of the 8.81 g of diamorphine and the 27.61 g of diamorphine

While the accused had admitted that he had previously been trafficking in drugs (see [15]-[16] above), the focus of the present case was on the period between 14 February and 18 February 2015 relating to two shipments of drugs which comprised the seized exhibits (listed in the table at [11] above).

The first shipment pertains to one pound of heroin and 250 g of “ice” ordered by the accused from Billa Visu sometime on 14 or 15 February 2015. The heroin was delivered to the accused in two bundles and the “ice” in one bundle the following day. The accused paid the courier $13,700 in cash.¹⁷

The accused repacked one of the two bundles of heroin, and proceeded to place the other bundle (exhibit E5) into the bottom drawer of his computer table in his bedroom. He also placed in this drawer five zip-lock packets of heroin (exhibit E6A), and an additional packet of heroin (exhibit E7). At this time, the accused also placed four packets and a straw of heroin (exhibit D1) in the top drawer, and a straw of heroin (exhibit C2) on the top of the computer table.¹⁸ On analysis, the various heroin packets from the first shipment were found to contain a net weight of 8.81 g of diamorphine (“the 8.81 g of diamorphine”).¹⁹

The second shipment pertains to two pounds of heroin which the accused ordered from Billa Visu on 17 February 2015.²⁰ Billa Visu told the accused to pass $7,400 to the courier. On 18...