Public Prosecutor v Eu Lim Hoklai
| Jurisdiction | Singapore |
| Judge | Kan Ting Chiu J |
| Judgment Date | 30 June 2009 |
| Neutral Citation | [2009] SGHC 151 |
| Court | High Court (Singapore) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Citation | [2009] SGHC 151 |
| Plaintiff Counsel | Winston Cheng Howe Ming, Stella Tan and Siva Shammugam (Deputy Public Prosecutors) |
| Defendant Counsel | Subhas Anandan and Sunil Sudheesan (KhattarWong) |
| Subject Matter | Criminal Law |
| Published date | 20 April 2011 |
[LawNet Editorial Note: The appeal to this decision in Criminal Appeal No 14 of 2009 was allowed by the Court of Appeal on 12 April 2011. See
| 30 June 2009 |
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Kan Ting Chiu J:
2 When the police arrived at the scene, they found the accused and the deceased in the third of three massage cubicles. The deceased was lying on a massage table (also referred to as the massage table or the massage couch) in a massage cubicle, and the accused was lying on the floor next to the bed.
3 The police were alerted by the accused’s daughter, Eu Sui Lin. She received a telephone call from him at about 10.56 am telling her to go to the massage parlour quickly as he was in danger. She went to the massage parlour where she was joined by her mother, her sister and the police. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they examined the deceased and pronounced her dead at 11.41am. The accused, who was in a semi-conscious state, was conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Injuries on the deceased
4 Consultant Forensic Pathologist, Dr Wee Keng Poh went to the massage parlour at 2.35 pm and conducted an autopsy on the deceased on 19 June after she was taken to the mortuary. In his autopsy report, Dr Wee noted the position of the deceased’s body that:
The body was lying on its back on the black massage couch with the head in the gap between the wall and the couch and the body across the distal part of the couch. The right upper limb was abducted at the shoulder and flexed at the elbow with the right hand placed across the right chest. There was a kitchen knife loosely held by the right hand at the handle with the blade pointing downwards. The left upper arm was extended at the elbow and slightly abducted at the shoulder. The left lower limb was lying free on the right side of the massage couch; the right lower limb was over the right side of the couch with the right foot in contact with the carpet. Both lower limbs were slightly abducted at the hips and flexed at the knees.
(The knife in the deceased’s hand was the only knife involved. It was examined for DNA and the DNA of the accused and the deceased were found on the handle of the knife, and the DNA of the accused was found on the blade.)
Further, Dr Wee recorded that:
The body was fully clothed. There were blood spots on the right side of the anterolateral aspect of the brown shorts, right side of crotch of panties and blood smudges over the whole of the right posterior upper forearm, right wrist and front and back of right hand. There were smudges of blood over the right anteromedial aspect of the upper thigh and dried droplets of blood over the right anterior and posteromedial mid thigh, right knee, upper posterolateral calf and left anterior thigh. There were a group of droplets of dried blood over the top of the right foot.
(Photographs of the body were taken and produced; see P10-11, P24-27, P32-39 and P45-54).
5 Dr Wee examined the body at the scene and found that it was cool to touch and that rigor mortis was setting in. He estimated the time of death to be 6-12 hours before the time of examination, consistent with the history of a fight at about 9-10 am that morning.
1.There is marked congestion of the face above the level of the mid neck and with multiple petechial haemorrhages of the skin, mainly of the forehead, cheeks and chin. There are scleral haemorrhages in both eyes.
2.There is a group of three small scratch marks, measuring 2 x 1 mm, 3 x 2 mm and 3 x 1 mm on the anterior neck region just to the left of the midline and at the laryngeal prominence.
3.There are three superficial bruises roughly parallel to one another over the left anterolateral neck slightly below the scratch marks measuring 3 x 0.5 cm, 2 x 0.4 cm and 3 x 0.2 cm.
which on internal examination showed:
The anterior neck structures were explored in a bloodless field after the removal of the brain and the internal thoraco-abdominal organs. There are no haemorrhages in both sternomastoid muscles. There are thin haemorrhages over the right submandibular salivary gland, over left larygno-hyoid membrane and over the external surfaces of both ala of larynx and between the muscle and membrane between hyoid and cricoid cartilage. There is haemorrhage over the right hyoid bone with underlying fracture. The common carotid arteries and the internal jugular veins are intact with no evidence of intimal tears. They thyroid and oesophagus appear normal.
7 Dr Wee also found two fatal stab wounds on the chest:
5. Fatal stab wound right lower anterolateral chest wall, 37 cm below the level of the level of the right shoulder tip, 105 cm from the level of the heel and 4 cm to the right of the midline. The stab wound is near horizontal, measures 2.3 cm along the long axis and 0.5 cm at its widest point. The medial tip is sharp and the lateral tip tapers for 1.3 cm superficially. The medial tip shows bruised edges.
Penetration: Through and through obliquely through the full thickness of the right lower chest through the right 9th intercostal space anterolaterally, into the right lobe of the liver superiorly, emerging at the inferior surface of the right lobe. There is no penetration of the pancreas, stomach or small intestines.
Direction: From right to left, downwards and medially.
Depth: 9 cm.
6. Fatal stab wound right lower chest wall, lateral to wound (5) above, measuring about 6.5 cm from the midpoint to midpoint of the above wound to this wound. The wound is ellipitical in shape with sharp edges and pointed tips. The edges of the wound appear abraided with pointed tips. The long axis of the wound is oblique, measuring 2.5 cm along the long axis and 1 cm at its widest point. The wound is located 105 cm from the level of the heel, 10.5 cm to the right of the midline along the mid clavicular line and 38 cm below the level of the right shoulder tip.
Penetration: Through and through stab wound running obliquely through the full thickness of the right upper anterior abdominal wall (3.5 cm in thickness), into the right lobe of the liver superiorly, emerging inferior surface of the right lobe just lateral to the insertion of the falciform ligament and cutting into the capsule and the mid section of the posterior right kidney. There is no penetration of the pancreas, stomach or small intestines.
Direction: From right to left, downwards and medially.
Depth: 9 cm.
and he certified the cause of death as “acute haemorrhage due to stab wounds of abdomen and asphyxia due to manual strangulation” with the comment that the deceased had “died as a result of two different modes of injuries – that of being stabbed in the abdomen and strangulated (compression of the neck) by the assailant’s hands.”
8 In his evidence in court, Dr Wee added to his autopsy findings. He said that the deceased would have died from the stab wounds in the abdomen within one to two hours[note: 1] and that it would take three to five minutes of strangulation to cause her death.[note: 2]
9 He was also of the opinion that the strangulation had occurred before the stabbing[note: 3] because (a) there were very marked changes around the face and internal neck structures; (b) there were minimal defensive injuries on the deceased; and (c) there was minimal blood spillage outside her abdomen.[note: 4]
10 From a photograph of the deceased which showed a mucus flow from the mouth[note: 5], Dr Wee concluded that the deceased was strangled in an upright position[note: 6] and not in the position she was found in.
11 Dr Wee also thought it was very likely that the deceased was lying on her back when she was stabbed in the abdomen.[note: 7] He explained that if she was stabbed before she got onto the massage table, more of the about 400 cc of blood that was found in the peritoneal space would have flowed out of the stab wounds onto the surrounding areas than the minimal amount smudged on the wall of the cubicle.[note: 8]
12 Mr Subhas, counsel for the accused, did not question Dr Wee on the conclusions. Dr Johan Duflou, the forensic pathologist who gave evidence on behalf of the defence, had prepared his report[note: 9] before he heard Dr Wee give evidence on his conclusions. However, he was in court and he heard Dr Wee’s evidence, and he did not comment or refute those conclusions when he gave evidence himself.
13 In the closing submissions, the defence contended:
21. Dr Wee suggested that the strangulation of the Deceased occurred first because he expected more injuries as a reaction to the struggle and there was minimal amount of spilled blood. Further, Dr Wee confirmed that the Deceased was still alive when she was stabbed in the stomach because there was a substantial amount of blood found in the Deceased’s peritoneal space (this is of course accepted by the Defence).
22. However, with due respect, Dr Wee is not an expert on natural responses. It is humbly submitted that different people react in different ways in a struggle. Further, Dr Wee agreed that the lack of defensive injuries does not mean that there was no struggle. In fact, in this particular case, there were injuries that can be classified as defensive type injuries sustained by both the Accused and the Deceased, namely the respective cuts on the fingers and the abrasions found on the Accused’s face.
23. Next, Dr Wee agreed that the Deceased’s stab wounds could possibly be self-inflicted. For the record, it is admitted that the Deceased self-infliction of injuries on herself is a fanciful possibility. However, it was raised to demonstrate how by parity of reasoning, the postulation that the Accused had self-inflicted injuries is similarly...
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Eu Lim Hoklai v Public Prosecutor
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