Public Prosecutor v Foo Shik Jin and Others

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: T S Sinnathuray J
• Judgment Date: 26 August 1996
• Neutral Citation: [1996] SGHC 186
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Published date: 28 January 2013
• Year: 1996
• Plaintiff Counsel: Beverly Wee Ying Ling (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Sant Singh assisted by A K Arivanantham (Chor Pee & Co),Jan Chua (Chua Dhillon Tan & Partners),Ang Kim Leong (Ang & Associates)
• Citation: [1996] SGHC 186

Judgment:

GROUNDS OF DECISION

1 On 17 May 1996 the 4th accused, Tan Ban Lee, together with three others pleaded guilty to the following charge: You, Foo Shik Jin, Lim Wen Feng, Aw Wei Kwang and Tan Ban Lee on or about the 30 July 1995 at about 9.24 pm at Yuhua Park, Jurong East Street 21, Singapore, together with one Ang Yi Hou, one Wong Foong Chi and one Yap Lian Heng were members of an unlawful assembly whose common object was to cause hurt to one Ng Ban Sen, aged 14 years, and that while you all were members of the said assembly, one or more of you, in prosecution of the said common object, caused the death of the said Ng Ban Sen by doing certain acts, namely, striking the said Ng Ban Sen on the head with wooden poles, with the intention of causing such bodily injury as was likely to cause death, and you have thereby by virtue of s 149 of the Penal Code, Cap 224, committed an offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder punishable under s 304(a) of the Penal Code.

2 The learned DPP read out the following statement of facts:

The deceased is Ng Ban Sen, aged 14 at the material time, and living at Blk 221A Jurong East Street 21 #07-881.

The accused persons are : FOO SHIK JIN ( FOO ), male, 15 years old, NRIC 8035011-B, who is a student of Jurong View Secondary School;

LIM WEN FENG ( LIM ), male, 14 years old, NRIC No 8128798-H, who is a student of Jurong View Secondary School;

AW WEI KWANG ( AW ), male, 15 years old, NRIC No 8040617-G, who is a student of Jurong View Secondary School;

TAN BAN LEE ( TAN ), male, 16 years old, NRIC No 8012490-B, who is a free-lance pipe-fitter/electrician.

All four accused are members of the "Ang Soon Tong" triad society, of the "Ji It" group, operating at Blk 303 Jurong East Street 31, Singapore.

On 30 July 1995 at about 8.00pm, Foo, Aw and Lim, together with two others were at Blk 303 Jurong East Street 31 when they met members of the rival "Gi Hai Kim" secret society of the "24" group who were chanting group slogans and behaving in a menacing manner towards them.

As they were outnumbered by the "Gi Hai Kim" secret society members, Foo, Aw, Lim and the two others ran away.

Lim then informed his "Headman", one Ang Yi Hou ("Ang") about the incident, and he was instructed by Ang to meet him at Blk 279 Bukit Batok East Avenue 4.

Ang further assured Lim that he would obtain assistance from the other gang members and from members of affiliated gangs.

Lim, Foo, Aw and the two other gang members who were with them then proceeded to meet Ang as instructed at the coffeeshop at Blk 279 Bukit Batok East Ave 4, Singapore.

Upon their arrival at the meeting point, the said Ang, as well as several members of their gang, including the fourth accused Tan were present. They were preparing for an impending settlement talk with members of the rival "Sio Kun Tong" secret society of the "18" group which was to take place at Blk 308 Jurong East Street 32, Singapore.

Ang informed those present of what had transpired between himself and Lim. He rallied assistance from the members of the gang and its affiliates. They were told to be prepared for an impending retaliatory attack on the members of the "Gi Hai Kim" secret society of the "24" group.

The accused, together with the other members of the gang and their affiliates were then told to board a private hire bus PH 528 M driven by one Yeo Kok Seng.

The group then left for Blk 308 Jurong East Street 32, Singapore. At Blk 308 Jurong East Street 32, Singapore, one Wong Foong Chi joined them. Ang, together with three other gang members, held a settlement talk with the members of the rival "Sio Kun Tong" secret society of the "18" group. During the said settlement talks, all the others stood by in the vicinity, in anticipation of a fight. The dispute was amicably settled, Ang and the rest of the gang members and their affiliates then boarded the bus PH 528 M again.

They then proceeded to Blk 303 Jurong East Street 32, Singapore, where Ang retrieved the weapons, contained in a canvas bag, that were to be used in the retaliatory attack.

There were eight rattan poles in all, and these were distributed by Ang in the bus. Amongst those who received these rattan poles were one Wong Foong Chi and one Yap Lian Heng.

Foo, Lim, Aw and Tan, together with the other gang members were then reminded by Ang that they were going to launch an attack on the rival "Gi Hai Kim" secret society of the "24" group. They were...