Public Prosecutor v Ho Chai Sng Stephen

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Kenneth Yap
• Judgment Date: 18 August 2020
• Neutral Citation: [2020] SGDC 193
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: District Arrest Case—DAC 942238/2016, DAC 943997/2016, DAC 943999/2016 and DAC 946155 to 946157/2016, Magistrate’s Appeal No. 9050/2019/01
• Year: 2020
• Published date: 26 August 2020
• Hearing Date: 25 October 2018,19 October 2018,29 January 2019,27 July 2018,14 August 2018,25 July 2018,13 August 2018,26 July 2018,19 February 2019,05 March 2018,24 October 2018
• Plaintiff Counsel: DPP Ashraf Bin Hassan
• Defendant Counsel: Mr Selva Kumara Naidu (M/s Liberty Law Practice LLP)
• Citation: [2020] SGDC 193

District Judge Kenneth Yap:

The accused claimed trial to six charges for theft of motorcycles under s 379A of the Penal Code (Cap. 224). He was convicted after trial and sentenced to nine years of corrective training, and disqualified from obtaining or holding a driving licence for nine years after the date of his release. He has appealed against conviction and sentence, and is presently on bail pending appeal.

The Charges

Section 379A of the Penal Code provides as follows: 379A – (1) Whoever commits theft of a motor vehicle or any component part of a motor vehicle shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 7 years, and shall also be liable to fine. (2) A person convicted of an offence under this section shall, unless the court for special reasons thinks fit to order otherwise, be disqualified for such period as the court may order from the date of his release from imprisonment from holding or obtain a driving licence under the Road Traffic Act (Cap. 276).

The accused faced the following charges:

The First Charge – DAC 942238-2016 (the Woodlands Suzuki GSX charge)

You … are charged that you between 21 November 2016 at or about 2.00 pm to 22 November 2016 at or about 6.30 am, at the multi storey car park of Blk 588A Woodlands Drive 16, Singapore, did commit theft of a black/silver Suzuki GSX motorcycle bearing registration number FBL 393 D, valued at about $26,000/- in the possession of one Imbadullah Bin Mohamed Raffick and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 379A of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

The Second Charge – DAC 943997-2016 (the Woodlands Harvey HUG charge)

You … are charged that you between 19 November 2016 at or about 7.00 pm to 21 November 2016 at or about 10.30 am, at the multi storey car park of Blk 614A Woodlands Avenue 4, Singapore, did commit theft of a black “Harley Davidson” XLH HUG motorcycle bearing registration number FQ 5116 G, valued at about $8,500/- in the possession of one Jamale Bin Sumari and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 379A of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

The Third Charge – DAC 943999-2016 (the Woodlands Yamaha VMAX charge)

You … are charged that you between 21 November 2016 at or about 4.00 am to 21 November 2016 at or about 3.00 pm, at the multi storey car park of Blk 687 Woodlands Drive 75, Singapore, did commit theft of a black “Yamaha” VMAX motorcycle bearing registration number FL 358 J, valued at about $7,500/- in the possession of one Ibrahim Bin Allaudin and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 379A of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

The Fourth Charge – DAC 946155-2016 (the Paya Ubi Harley) charge

You … are charged that you between 21 October 2016 at or about 12.00 pm to 24 October 2016 at or about 11.20 am, at Level 3 of Blk 53 Ubi Ave 1, Paya Ubi Industrial Estate, Singapore, did commit theft of a black “Harley Davidson” motorcycle bearing registration number FN 9120 H, valued at about $8,500/- in the possession of one Matthew Lim Ching Ming and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 379A of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

The Fifth Charge – DAC 946156-2016 (the Sin Ming Harley charge)

You … are charged that you between 10 November 2016 at or about 11.00 am to 13 November 2016 at or about 8.00 pm, at the open space car park of No. 10 Sin Ming Drive, Singapore, did commit theft of a black “Harley Davidson” motorcycle bearing registration number FBB 3229 D, valued at about $8,000/- in the possession of one Starki and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 379A of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

The Sixth Charge - DAC 946157-2016 (the Woodsvale Condo Harley charge)

You … are charged that you between 28 July 2015 at or about 1.00 pm, to 11 January 2016 at or about 9.00 am, at the basement car park of No. 19 Woodlands Drive 72, Woodsvale Condominium, Singapore, did commit theft of a black “Harley Davidson” motorcycle bearing registration number FBD 7651 E, valued at about $8,000/- in the possession of one Rashpal Singh S/O Piara Singh and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 379A of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

The Prosecution’s Case

The Prosecution called six witnesses at trial to testify, namely:

S/No.	Name of Witness	Role
PW1	SI Jegajeed Singh	Investigation Officer Recorder of accused’s three long statements (PS 1 – 3) and cautioned statements in relation to 4th – 6th charges (PS 4 – 6).
PW2	SSGT Lim Hong Boon	Lead Detective
PW3	SSGT Norazlan Abdul Aziz	Recorder of cautioned statements in relation to 2nd and 3rd charges (PS 8 and 9)
PW4	Mohamed Maidin Bin Mohamed Ibrahim (“Maidin”)	Witness in relation to 6th charge.
PW5	Lee Teck Chye (“David”)	Witness in relation to 1st to 5th charges
PW6	IO Adil Bin Mohamed Yunos	Investigation Officer who took over the case from SI Jegajeed Singh.

According to the prosecution, there was overwhelming evidence pointing to the accused’s theft of motorcycles on all six counts: The accused had confessed to the theft and explained the modus operandi in three long statements (PS 1 – 3), five of his six cautioned statements (PS 4 – 6, 8, 9), as well as in a statement recorded by SI Jegajeed Singh in his Field book (PS 7). His co-accused David had pleaded guilty at a mention where he was represented by counsel and had admitted without qualification to a Summary of Facts which implicated the accused in relation to the 1st to 5th charges. Some of the motorcycles and their dismantled component parts had been recovered in the vicinity of or within the accused’s office. The accused’s attempt to interfere with and persuade PW4 Maidin to testify in his favour at trial was indicative of his guilt. This came to light when the witness, after initially testifying in the accused’s favour as requested, later recanted and implicated the accused with respect to the 6th charge.

The accused challenged the admissibility of nine of his statements (PS 1 – 9) at an ancillary hearing on the grounds that they were made under threat, inducement or promise. At the close of the ancillary hearing, I was satisfied that they were made voluntarily and admitted the following nine statements, for reasons which I shall provide later.

Marking	Recorder	Date/Time	Description
PS1	SI Jegajeed Singh	30 Nov 2016 15:09 hrs	Long statement.
PS2	SI Jegajeed Singh	30 Nov 2016 18:48 hrs	Long statement (continued)
PS3	SI Jegajeed Singh	5 Dec 2016 11:23 hrs	Further Long statement
PS4	SI Jegajeed Singh	5 Dec 2016 10:45 hrs	Cautioned statement (4th charge)
PS5	SI Jegajeed Singh	5 Dec 2016 1100 hrs	Cautioned statement (5th charge)
PS6	SI Jegajeed Singh	5 Dec 2016 1120 hrs	Cautioned statement (6th charge)
PS7	SI Jegajeed Singh	26 Nov 2016	Extract from Field book
PS8	SIO Norazlan Abdul Aziz	29 Nov 2016 1835 hrs	Cautioned statement (2nd charge)
PS9	SIO Norazlan Abdul Aziz	29 Nov 2016 1852 hrs	Cautioned statement (3rd charge)

The statements are integral to the prosecution’s case, and the exact content of the statements and other evidence adduced by the prosecution in support of each individual charge is detailed in the following sections.

The First Charge (the Woodlands Suzuki GSX charge)

The prosecution’s case in respect of this charge was that sometime between 21 November 2016 at or about 2 pm to 22 November 2016 at or about 6.30 am, both the accused and David drove to a carpark in Woodlands to steal the Suzuki GSX motorcycle, valued at $26,000, belonging to one Imbadullah Bin Mohamed Raffick.

In PS1 (at [10] and [12]), the accused admitted that on 21 November 2016, David came to the accused’s shop and they both agreed to go out to look for motorcycles to steal. David drove the accused in a van to the multi-storey car park at Blk 588A Woodlands Drive 16. When they arrived, they saw a black/silver Suzuki GSX motorcycle bearing registration number FBL 393D parked in the car park. They alighted from the vehicle, whereupon David set up a plank against the van and they both pushed the motorcycle into the van. Thereafter, they travelled in the van to No. 89 Short Street where the motorcycle was unloaded at the sixth floor office of the accused.

In PS2 (at [Q1 – A3]), the accused continued the account and said that David left after he was paid $500 by the accused. He recounted how he then proceeded to dismantle the parts of the motorcycle and wrapped them in plastic wrap. His intention was to protect the parts and thereafter get a buyer for the motorcycle. The next day, on 22 November 2016, the accused texted an Indonesian contact to look for a buyer. There was negotiation on the price but no agreement was reached. That very night, the accused was arrested by police officers who raided his fifth floor office, where he was working on his DVD and CD printing machine. When questioned in his Further Long Statement (PS3), the accused again confirmed the theft and recounted how he had led the police officers to recover the motorcycle at the location he had placed it before he could find a buyer¹.

The account provided by the accused was confirmed by David in the Statement of Facts (“SOF”) admitted with his plea of guilt for aiding and abetting the accused on this same charge. David admitted in the SOPF (P12 at [5]) that he had agreed to help the accused steal motorcycles, for which he would receive a $500 cut for every motorcycle stolen. He explained that the modus operandi was to drive a rented van to the target location, whereupon both of them would find a motorcycle preferably of...