Public Prosecutor v J Xander Roslan

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Salina Bte Ishak
• Judgment Date: 19 December 2016
• Neutral Citation: [2016] SGDC 349
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC-916887-2016 & 10 Ors, Magistrate’s Appeal No 9329/2016/01
• Published date: 23 December 2016
• Year: 2016
• Hearing Date: 12 October 2016,14 December 2016,31 October 2016,16 November 2016
• Plaintiff Counsel: Tan Jun Hong and Tay Jingxi from Attorney-General's Chambers
• Defendant Counsel: Sunil Sudeeshan & Ngian Hian Theng Diana from Quahe Woo & Palmer LLC
• Citation: [2016] SGDC 349

District Judge Salina Bte Ishak: The Charges

The Accused, Mr J Xander Roslan, a 28-year-old Singapore citizen had pleaded guilty on 31 October 2016 to the following three charges namely: (i) DAC 916887-2016 (“Exhibit C1B”),

…are charged that you on 25 January 2015 at or about 4.10 p.m., in the SK Jewellery outlet located at #02-53 of JEM, 50 Jurong Gateway Road, Singapore 608549, together with one Goh Bing Kun, and in furtherance of the common intention of you both, did cheat one Yang Xiuyan Serlene, the cashier of the SK Jewellery outlet at JEM, to wit, by presenting a DBS debit card bearing the card number xxx and in the name of “Kong Weishuo, Evan” to the said Yang Xiuyan Serlene to pay for 1 pendant valued at $499, and by deceiving the said Yang Xiuyan Serlene into believing that you were the rightful holder of the said DBS Debit Card, knowing this to be false, you dishonestly induced the said Yang Xiuyan Serlene to accept the said debit card for payment, an act she would not have done had she not been so deceived, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 417 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

(ii) DAC 916888 - 2016 (“Exhibit C2B”),

…are charged that you, on 25 January 2015 at or about 6.47 p.m., in Vision 1 Pte Ltd located at #01-30 of Burlington Square, 175 Bencoolen Street, Singapore 189649, together with one Goh Bing Kun, and in furtherance of the common intention of you both, did cheat one Ng Boon Leng, the operating manager of Vision 1 Pte Ltd, to wit, by presenting a DBS debit card bearing the card number xxx and in the name of “Kong Weishuo, Evan” to the said Ng Boon Leng to pay for 2 iPhone 6 plus 64GB, valued at $2,772.15 in total, and by deceiving the said Ng Boon Leng into believing that one of you was the rightful holder of the said DBS Debit Card, knowing this to be false, you dishonestly induced the said Ng Boon Leng to accept the said debit card for payment, an act he would not have done had he not been so deceived, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 417 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

(iii) MAC 903732 - 2016 9 (“Exhibit C3A”),

…are charged that you, on 24 January 2015, at about 1 a.m., at Zouk located at 17 Jiak Kim Street, Singapore 169420, together with one Goh Bing Kun, and in furtherance of the common intention of you both, did dishonestly misappropriate movable property, to wit, a DBS VISA debit card bearing the card number xxx registered in the name of Kong Weishuo, Evan, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 403 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 (2008 Rev. Ed.).

Eight remaining charges under Section 417 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code namely DAC 916879 - 2016 to DAC 916886 – 2016, with the relevant particulars reflected below, were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.

S/N	Charge	Date & time of offence	Location	Item
1	DAC 916879-2016	24.1.2015@2.46 am	Zouk	Alcoholic drinks ($28)
2	DAC 916880-2016	24.1.2015@ 2.50 am	Zouk	Alcoholic drinks ($210)
3	DAC 916881-2016	24.1.2015@ 3.49 am	Zouk	Alcoholic drinks ($145)
4	DAC 916882-2016	24.1.2015@ 4.07 am	Zouk	Alcoholic drinks ($145)
5	DAC 916883-2016	24.1.2015@ 4.19 am	Zouk	Alcoholic drinks ($57)
6	DAC 916884-2016	24.1.2015@ 4.40 am	Zouk	Alcoholic drinks ($56)
7	DAC 916885-2016	25.1.2015@ 1.36 pm	Clementi Mall Watson’s	Peanuts ($7.80)
8	DAC 916886-2016	25.1.2015@ 3.15 pm	JEM (NTUC)	Cigarettes ($26)

Summary of Facts

The Accused had admitted to the following Statements of Facts (“Exhibit PS1”) without qualification: 1. The accused is J Xander Roslan, a 28-year-old male Singaporean bearing the NRIC no. SXXXX741Z. At the material time, the accused was working as an Executive Assistant for ST Electronics. 2. The accomplice is one Goh Bing Kun, a 26-year-old male Singaporean bearing the NRIC no. SXXXX959J. He will be dealt with separately. 3. The complainant is one Kong Weishuo, Evan, a 24-year-old male ship officer. He is the holder of one DBS Visa debit card bearing the card number xxx(“the Card”).

First information report and arrest

4. On 26 January 2015, the complainant lodged a police report stating that there were unauthorised transactions made using the Card, which was missing. 5. Subsequent police investigations revealed that the accused and the accomplice were the parties who had made the transactions. Both were arrested on 9 February 2015.

Facts relating to the 11th charge (MAC 903732/2016)

6. On 24 January 2015, at about 1am, the accused and the accomplice were at Zouk when the accused spotted the Card on the floor at the entrance of the premises. The accused brought this to the accomplice’s attention. They spoke briefly and they then decided to misappropriate the Card to buy drinks for themselves. In furtherance of their common intention, the accomplice picked up the card, and they both retained the Card to use it. 7. Through their actions, the accused and the accomplice had dishonestly misappropriated the Card in furtherance of their common intention. The accused had thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 403 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code (Cap 2004, 2008 Rev Ed) (“Penal Code”).

Facts relating to the 9th charge (DAC 916887/2016)

8. On 25 January 2015, the accused and the accomplice met and decided to try and find out if the Card could still be used. Using the Card, they purchased a packet of peanuts from a Watson’s outlet located at Clementi Mall, at about 1.36pm. They decided to continue using the Card after finding out that it could still be used. They then made a trip to JEM, a shopping mall located at 50 Jurong Gateway Road, Singapore 608549. 9. Later that afternoon, the accused and the accomplice went to the SK Jewellery outlet located at #02-53 of JEM. They shared a common intention to cheat the shop into delivering jewellery to them by using the Card. In furtherance of this common intention, the accused and the accomplice looked through the jewellery on display. At or about 4.10pm, the accused presented the Card to pay for a pendant priced at $499. By so doing, the accused deceived the cashier, one Yang Xiuyan Serlene, into believing that he was the rightful holder of the Card, which he knew to be false, and the accused thereby dishonestly induced the cashier into delivering the said pendant to him. The accomplice was present in the shop at the time and knew that the accused had presented the Card in furtherance of their common intention. 10. The accused had thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 417 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

Facts relating to the 10th charge (DAC 916888/2016)

11. After the purchase of the said pendant at the SK Jewellery outlet in JEM, the accomplice suggested that they go to Sim Lim Square to buy mobile phones using the Card. The accused concurred. After arriving at Sim Lim Square, the accused and the accomplice visited various stores but eventually decided to make the purchase elsewhere because the stores at Sim Lim Square required them to produce identification documents before they could buy the phones. 12. The accused and the accomplice then proceeded to Burlington Square, a nearby shopping mall located at 175 Bencoolen Street, Singapore 189649. The accused and the accomplice shared a common intention to use the Card to cheat shops at Burlington Square into delivering mobile phones to them. That same day, the accused and the accomplice were at Vision 1 Pte Ltd, located at #01-30 of Burlington Square. At about 6.47pm, the accused and the accomplice, in furtherance of their common intention, used the Card to pay for two iPhone 6 Plus 64GB (cumulatively priced at $2,772.15), and by so doing, they deceived the manager of the Vision 1 Pte Ltd outlet, one Ng Boon Leng, into believing that one of them was the rightful holder of the Card, which they knew to be false, and they thereby dishonestly induced the manager to deliver the said phones to them. 13. The accused had thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 417 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

Other matters

14. The accused has admitted to the commission of the above offences and is charged accordingly. 15. The total loss suffered by the complainant was $3,945.95. Full restitution was made by the accomplice on 23 July 2015. Antecedents

The Accused is untraced.

Prosecution’s Address on Sentence

In the Prosecution’s written address on sentence a global sentence, DPP Tan Jun Hong had submitted that a sentence in the region of three months’ imprisonment was warranted in the present case, having regard to the aggravating factors and the sentencing precedents.

Aggravating Factors

It was the case for the Prosecution that there were three primary aggravating factors in the present case: a misappropriated debit card was used; the Accused and the accomplice had committed 10 cheating offences; and the cheating offences that form the substance of the proceeded charges were committed deliberately.

It was submitted that first in cases involving the abuse of credit cards, general deterrence has been regarded as a vital consideration in assessing the severity of the appropriate sentence. In Fernando Payagala Waduge Malitha Kumar [2007] 2 SLR(R) 334 (“Fernando Payagala”), the High Court noted (at [88]):

“Offences involving credit cards inevitably warrant severe treatment, save in exceptional cases. Given the pre-eminence and...