Public Prosecutor v Jayselan s/o N Chandrasegar

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Ng Peng Hong
• Judgment Date: 24 December 2018
• Neutral Citation: [2018] SGDC 321
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC-938803-2017 & 3 ors, Magistrate’s Appeal No. 9353-2018-01
• Published date: 11 June 2019
• Year: 2018
• Hearing Date: 11 December 2018
• Plaintiff Counsel: Mr Houston Johannus
• Defendant Counsel: Mr Fong Mun Yung Gregory John (Fong & Fong LLC)
• Citation: [2018] SGDC 321

District Judge Ng Peng Hong:

The Accused is appealing against the sentence of imprisonment of 7 years and 6 strokes of the cane.

The Accused pleaded guilty and was convicted on the following charges:

DAC-938803-2017

(“the First Charge”)

charged that you, on or about 26 October 2017, from 6.15 a.m. to 12.15 p.m., at Jurong Police Divisional Headquarters, Singapore, did fail without reasonable excuse, to provide a sample of your urine within such time as required by a police officer not below the rank of sergeant, and as such you have committed an offence under section 31 (2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Chapter 185, 2008 Rev Ed).

and further, that you, before the commission of the said offence, were on 6 January 2015, in District Court No. 5, Singapore (vide DAC 927968/2014) convicted of an offence of consumption of a Specified Drug, to wit, methamphetamine, under Section 8(b)(ii) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Chapter 185, 2008 Rev Ed) and was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, which conviction and punishment have not been set aside to date, and you shall now liable for enhanced punishment under section 33(4) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed).

DAC-900002-2018

(“the Third Charge”)

that you, on 30 December 2017 at or about 11.47 a.m., along Lorong 16 Geylang, Singapore, did voluntarily cause grievous hurt to one Mayuri d/o Krishnakumar by using a knife with a blade measuring about 10 cm in length, which, if used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, to wit, by stabbing the said Mayuri d/o Krishnakumar twice on her abdomen and slashing her twice on her back, and thereafter punching and kicking her, causing her to sustain numerous injuries, inter alia, stab wounds in the left hypochondrium and left iliac fossa, each approximately 2-3cm, which injuries would have endangered her life if surgery were not performed, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under section 326 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

Statement of Facts

The Accused admitted to the following Statement of Facts (“SOF”): I. “INTRODUCTION 1. The accused is Jayselan s/o N Chandrasegar, a 30-year old male Singaporean (DOB 6 May 1988) bearing NRIC No SXXXX104F. He was working as a cleaner at the material time. II. FACTS PERTAINING TO THE 1 ST CHARGE (DAC 938803-2017) 2. On 26 October 2017, at or about 5.30 a.m., police officers attached to Jurong Police Division Headquarters were performing patrolling duties in the vicinity of Block 420 Bukit Batok West Avenue 2 when they arrested the accused on suspicion of having committed drug-related offences. A search was conducted on the accused and the following items were seized from his possession—one cigarette box containing two pieces of aluminium foils, one green sandpaper, two match sticks, two rolled papers, three pieces of paper, one white lighter and one pack of tobacco roll papers. 3. The accused, together with the seized exhibits, were then conveyed to Jurong Police Division Headquarters for further investigations. 4. At the station lock-up, Police Sergeant (Sgt) Mohammad Ashruf Khan s/o Mohamed Akhbar, who was on duty at the material time, had reasonably suspected the accused of having committed an offence under section 8(b)(ii) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed), and requested the accused to provide a sample of his urine for testing pursuant to section 31(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed). Sgt Mohammad Ashruf Khan then administered a warning to the accused at 6.15 a.m., stating that it is an offence under section 31(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed), for the accused to not provide his urine for drug testing. He was also informed to provide his urine sample for the next 6 hours. However, the accused refused to acknowledge the warning. 5. From 6.15 a.m. to 8.00 a.m., at half-hourly intervals, the accused was offered water to drink and was requested by Sgt Mohammad Ashruf Khan to provide his urine sample. The accused, without reasonable excuse, refused to drink water and provide his urine sample. 6. At 8.00 a.m., Police Sergeant (Sgt) Muhammad Amirul bin Minhad took over duty from Sgt Mohammad Ashruf Khan. Sgt Muhammad Amirul then issued the same warning to the accused to provide his urine sample (paragraph 4 refers). However, the accused rudely told Sgt Muhammad Amirul to “go away”. 7. From 8.15 a.m. to 12.15 p.m., at half-hourly intervals, Sgt Muhammad Amirul offered water to the accused to drink and requested to provide his urine sample. However, each time, the accused, without reasonable excuse, refused to drink or showed any intention to provide his urine sample. 8. Subsequently, at 12.15 p.m., the accused was referred to CNB for further investigations as he had refused to provide his urine sample without reasonable excuse. 9. On the same day, at 12.15 p.m., Dr Larry Kang Jun Hui of Healthway Medical Group examined the accused. Dr Larry Kang stated in his report dated 10 November 2017 that the accused “claimed to be able to pass urine but refuses to give urine sample”. The accused was examined to be well with stable vital signs, and there was no indication that he would be unable to provide his urine sample. 10. The accused has thereby committed an offence under section 31(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed). 11. Before the commission of the said offence, on 6 January 2015, in District Court No. 5, Singapore (vide DAC 927968/2014), the accused was convicted of an offence of consumption of a Specified Drug, to wit, methamphetamine, under Section 8(b)(ii) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Chapter 185, 2008 Rev Ed) and was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, which conviction and punishment have not been set aside to date, and he shall now liable for enhanced punishment under section 33(4) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed). 12. The accused was charged in State Court 26 on 27 October 2017 and was released on bail thereafter. III. FACTS PERTAINING TO THE 3RD CHARGE (DAC 900002-2018) a) Background facts 13. The victim in this case is Mayuri d/o Krishnakumar, a 27-year old female Singaporean. She is the wife of the accused and has been married to the accused for 4 years prior to the incident. At the material time, they had a 3-year old son and she was also pregnant with unknown gestational age. 14. Sometime in October 2017, soon after the accused’s release from prison, his marriage to the victim soured due to frequent quarrels over money and their son. The accused was also made aware that the victim’s ex-boyfriend was trying to reconnect with her. This caused the accused to become overly possessive and distrustful of the victim. He then banned the victim from going out of the house. From October to December 2017, the accused would frequently quarrel with the victim over the issue of her ex-boyfriend. Furthermore, the victim also discovered sometime within this period of time that she was pregnant and informed the accused. However, the accused refused to believe that the child was his, and accused her of infidelity. 15. On 24 December 2017, the victim decided to run away from home as she could no longer tolerate his aggression and verbal abuse. She then decided to go to the vicinity of Lorong 16 Geylang to seek company with her old friends, who are mainly prostitutes and residing in that area. She also resided with them in their rented rooms between 24 and 30 December 2017. b) Events on 30 December 2017 16. At about 11.00 a.m., the victim was walking along Lorong 16 Geylang to buy breakfast at a nearby coffee shop. She then chanced upon an old friend, a male Indian known to her as “Nanda”. She knew “Nanda” from her days working as a prostitute before her marriage. She then greeted “Nanda”. At this juncture, the accused had just alighted from a bus and was walking along Lorong 16 Geylang as well. He then saw the victim chatting with “Nanda”, whom he was also familiar with and suspected that he was a pimp. Enraged, he then ran towards the victim and confronted her, accusing her of prostituting herself again. “Nanda” then walked away. 17. Before the victim could reply the accused, the accused punched and kicked the victim several times on her face and upper body. The victim fell to the ground and the accused continued kicking her. While she lay on the ground, the accused then spotted a knife with a 10cm long blade lying nearby. He retrieved the knife and stabbed the victim twice on her abdomen and slashed her back. The victim cried...