Public Prosecutor v Koay Xin De

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Soh Tze Bian
• Judgment Date: 21 February 2012
• Neutral Citation: [2012] SGDC 32
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC 21420/2008 & DAC 42310/2008
• Year: 2012
• Published date: 23 March 2012
• Hearing Date: 21 December 2011,26 March 2009,05 August 2011,14 April 2009,10 November 2011,16 September 2011
• Plaintiff Counsel: Deputy Public Prosecutor, Mr Yang Ziliang
• Defendant Counsel: Mr A P Thirumurthy (M/s Murthy & Co)
• Citation: [2012] SGDC 32

District Judge Soh Tze Bian: Introduction

On 26 March 2009, the accused person (AP) pleaded guilty before me to 2 charges in DAC 42310/2008 and DAC 21420/2008 as follows: (i) In DAC 42310/2008, the AP, on the 15th day of September 2008, at or about 7.50 pm, at the rear of Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre located at No 756, Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore, together with Wang Jiaxiang, m/16, Ben Tan Hong Kai, m/16, Tang Jing Hong Desmond, m/16, Lam Jia Yi Reynold, m/16, Pang Hao Ching Elwin, m/16, Yeo Zhen Wei Sean, m/16, and an unknown male person were members of an unlawful assembly whose common object was to voluntarily cause hurt to Ang Yi Jie, m/17, Yeo Zhen Ebenezer, m/16, Lau Li Sheng Fabian, m/17, Koh Wei Jie, m/16 , and B, m/15, and in the prosecution of the common object of such assembly, he or any member thereof used violence, while armed with deadly weapons, to wit, 2 knives, which used as weapons of offence, are likely to cause death, and an offence which all of them knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of the said common object of such assembly. By virtue of section 149 of the Penal Code (Cap 224), the AP had committed an offence punishable under section 148 of the Penal Code (Cap 224) with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years and he shall also be liable to caning. (ii) In DAC 21420/2008, the AP, on or about the 12th day of May 2008 at or about 7.00 pm, at the vicinity of Block 230 Hougang Ave 1, Singapore, together with, Lim Ren Yi, m/16, Yeo Min Hao, m/23, C, m/14, D, m/13, E, m/13, F, m/13, Pang Hao Ching Elwin, m/16, Oon Rong Chang Jerry, m/16, Gary Yeo Jun Yuan, m/16, Ong Jie Sheng Jason, m/19, Phua Wei Zhong Ernest, m/16, G, m/15 and 7 others unknown male Chinese, were members of an unlawful assembly whose common object was to voluntarily cause hurt to H, m/15, J, m/15 and Lim Meng Soon, m/16, and in the prosecution of the common object of the said assembly, some or all of them of the said assembly, voluntarily caused hurt to the aforesaid persons, to wit, by punching and kicking on the aforesaid persons. This was an offence punishable under section 147 of the Penal Code, (Cap 224) with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 7 years and an offender shall also be liable to caning.

As the dominant consideration in sentencing youthful offenders is rehabilitation (see PP v Mok Ping Wuen Maurice [1999] 1 SLR 138 at [21]), I called for both probation and reformative training (RTC) reports. The AP was recommended for probation and certified fit to undergo RTC. The prosecution had then submitted that RTC was more appropriate given that the AP faced 2 charges of a very serious nature. However, I rejected the prosecution’s submission and agreed with the defence counsel that intensive probation in a hostel was not a "soft option". Accordingly, I ordered the AP to undergo 24 months split probation (12 months intensive and 12 months supervised) commencing from 14 April 2009 with the following conditions: (i) the AP to remain indoors from 10.00 p.m. till 6.00 a.m. daily unless otherwise approved by the probation officer; (ii) the AP to perform 180 hours of community service; (iii) the AP to reside at Bukit Batok Hostel for a period of 12 months; (iv) the AP’s parents to provide a bond of $5000 to ensure his good behaviour during the period of his probation.

On 5 June 2010, 14 months into probation and about 10 months before the end of his probation, the AP was part of an unlawful assembly. He was convicted of the offence of unlawful assembly under section 143 of the Penal Code (Cap 224) on 22 March 2011 (DAC 26658/2010) (hereinafter referred to either as “the 2010 offence” or “the section 143 offence”) and a probation progress report was called by the learned District Judge, Mr Low Wee Ping in Subordinate Court 4. The probation officer did not recommend probation, stating that:

“Given [the AP] 's eager willingness to participate in the attack and the extent of the victims' injuries, [his] risk to public safety remains high even while under probation.....

[He] should be sent a strong deterrence message to show him the error of his ways so he can correct his behaviour before he gets into even more serious trouble. Community-based rehabilitation may not be able to achieve that goal for him."(emphasis mine)

As probation was not recommended for the 2010 offence, the AP was sentenced to 2 days’ imprisonment and $6000 fine in default 6 weeks’ imprisonment on 19 April 2011 after his probation period for his offences in DAC 21420/2008 and DAC 42310/ 2008 (hereinafter referred to either as “the 2008 offences” or “the section 147 and section 148 offences”) had ended on 13 April 2011. Consequently, breach action before me was brought against the AP for the 2008 offences for which I had granted to the AP 24 months’ probation commencing on 14 April 2009 and ending on 13 April 2011.

Statement of Facts

The statement of facts, admitted by the AP without qualification, read as follows:

“DAC 42310/2008

The accused persons are: (B1) Koay Xin De, m/19 years old of NRIC No. SXXXXXXXD, DOB: 8 March 1990; and (B2) Pang Hao Ching Elwin, m/17 years old of NRIC No. SXXXXXXX0F, DOB: 22 January 1992. The complainant is an anonymous male caller.

2 The victims are : (V1) Ang Yi Jie, M/17 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXB; (V2) Yeo Zheng Ebenezer, M/16 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXE; (V3) Lau Li Sheng, Fabian, M/17 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXG; (V4) Koh Wei Jie, M/16 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXC; (V5) B, M/15 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXI. 3 The accused persons are: (B3) Ben Tan Hong Kai, M/17 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXJ, DOB: 17 February 1992; (B4) Tang Jing Hong Desmond, M/16 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXD, DOB: 30 August 1992; (B5) Lam Jia Yi, Reynold, M/17 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXJ, DOB: 5 February 1992; (B6) Wang Jiaxiang, M/16 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXD, DOB: 31 March 1992; (B7) Yeo Zhen Wei, Sean, M/16 of NRIC: SXXXXXXXI; and and an unknown male subject. 4 On 15th September 2008 at about 7.54p.m the complainant called police and reported a case of fighting at the rear of the Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre located at No. 756 Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore. 5 Investigations revealed that on 15th September 2008 at about 5 p.m., co-accused (B7) contacted accused persons (B1) to (B6) to meet up at Hougang Plaza. (B7) claimed that (V2) had assaulted him a few weeks ago and he wanted to take revenge for the assault. 6 (B7) then met up with (B3) at Hougang Plaza at about 5.30 p.m (B7) told (B3) that he wanted to steal a knife from NTUC Fairprice Supermarket at Hougang Mall located at No. 90 Hougang Avenue 10 to use as a weapon for the fight. The duo walked to Hougang Mall. 7 On entering the NTUC Fairprice Supermarket located at #B1-07 Hougang Mall, which is a building used for custody of property, (B7) went to the knife rack and removed a Home Proud Fairprice Chef knife valued at $4.35 whilst (B3) acted as a look out for him. (B7) placed the knife into his jacket and the duo walked out of the said NTUC Supermarket without paying for the knife. 8 (B3) and (B7) then met up with (B1) (B2), (B4), (B5) and (B6) at Hougang Plaza. (B1) to (B6) knew that (B7) wanted to slash (V2) to teach him a lesson. 9 At this junction, (B7) received information that (V2) was going to Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre. The accused persons split into 2 groups to travel to Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre. (B1), (B5) and (B7) left in a taxi to pick up the unknown male Chinese, whilst the rest of the accused persons took a bus. 10 On arrival at the back alley of the Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre at about 7.45p.m., the accused persons separated into 2 groups to lay an ambush on (V2). At this junction, (B1) to (B6) knew that (B7) was armed with a knife. 11 Within minutes, the 5 victims, (V1) to (V5) arrived at Upper Serangoon Road and alighted from the bus service 80. The victims were approaching the shopping centre via a flight of stairs. (B7) pointed out (V2) to the co-accused persons. 12 At about 7.50p.m., as the victims walked to the rear of the shopping centre, (B1), (B5) and the unknown male Chinese moved forward and confronted (V3).(B1) threw the first punch at (V3) and the other accused persons joined in to attack the victims with punches and kicks. During this attack, (B7) used the stolen knife to slash (V2) several times on his back. The unknown male accused was also armed with a knife and used it to attack the victims. 13 (B1), (B2), (B4), (B5) and (B6) had participated in the attack by punching one or more of the victims. (B3) had participated in the attack by kicking (V2) twice on the face. 14 Thereafter, all accused persons fled. Through follow-up investigations, the accused persons were arrested. 15 3 of the victims, namely (V1), (V2) and (V3), were conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for medical treatment while the other 2 victims did not seek medical attention though they suffered some pain from punches. 16 During the attack, (B6) also suffered slash wounds when (B7) attacked (V2) with the knife.

Medical Reports

17 The medical report prepared by Dr Eric Wong Ming Hai of Tan Tock Seng Hospital indicated that (V1) sustained a superficial laceration over his right upper back. 18 The medical report prepared by Dr Roger Orcino Aguilar of Tan Tock Seng Hospital indicated that (V2) sustained the following slash wounds: a) 30 cm wound over the upper back; b) 20 cm wound below the 30 cm wound of the upper back; c) 4 wound 15 cm each over the right lower back; d) 4 cm wound over the right shoulder; e) 10 cm wound over the right lateral knee. 19 The medical report prepared by Dr Tay Seow Yian of Tan Tock Seng Hospital indicated that (V3) sustained the following...