Public Prosecutor v Lee Wei Yang, Sean

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Edgar Foo
• Judgment Date: 19 July 2021
• Neutral Citation: [2021] SGDC 137
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC 910845 of 2017, Magistrate’s Appeal No. 9095-2021-01
• Year: 2021
• Published date: 28 July 2021
• Hearing Date: 23 May 2019,13 May 2019,19 November 2019,26 August 2020,28 November 2019,18 November 2019,19 April 2021,22 May 2019,06 February 2020,27 November 2019,24 May 2019,07 February 2020,26 November 2019,25 November 2019,04 February 2020,20 November 2019,22 November 2019,05 February 2020,03 February 2020
• Plaintiff Counsel: DPP Delicia Tan (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Raphael Louis (Ray Louis Law Corporation)
• Subject Matter: Criminal law,Offences,Penal Code,Rioting,Evidence,Witnesses' credibility,Proof of evidence,Onus of Proof
• Citation: [2021] SGDC 137

District Judge Edgar Foo: Introduction/Background

Lee Wei Yang, Sean, a 29-year-old male Singapore Citizen (“the Accused”), had claimed trial to the following charge:

DAC-910845-2017 (Amended)

You … are charged that you, on 25 March 2017, at or about 3.49 a.m., at the ground floor of Singapore Land Tower located at 50 Raffles Place, Singapore, were a member of an unlawful assembly, together with: (a) Cyrus Casper Francis; (b) Brandon Gan; (c) Steven Guo Shenzhong; (d) Nelson Lee Cheng Feng; (e) Alvin Raj Aloysious Conzaga; and (f) Lee Yi Yang, Dean,

whose common object was to cause hurt to one Tan Rong Sheng Royson and one Yeo Yuan Yuan, and in the prosecution of the said common object of the unlawful assembly, some of you had used violence, to wit, by punching and kicking the said Tan Rong Seng Royson and said Yeo Yuan Yuan, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under section 147 of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed).

At the conclusion of the trial, I had found that the Prosecution had failed to prove their case against the Accused beyond a reasonable doubt and I have granted the Accused a discharge amounting to an acquittal.

The Prosecution being dissatisfied with my decision, had filed their Notice of Appeal against my acquittal of the Accused. Accordingly, I set out my reasons for my acquittal of the Accused.

Parties’ evidence and exhibits Prosecution’s evidence and exhibits

The Prosecution had called on a total of 7 witnesses in their case against the Accused. They were: PW1 - Tan Rong Sheng Royson, one of the victims; PW2 - Dr Loo Lip Kuan, the doctor who examined both the victims PW1 and PW3; PW3 - Yeo Yuan Yuan, one of the victims; PW4 - Ng Han Bin, a witness; PW5 - Quek Yun Yi (“Queenie”), a witness; PW6 – Nelson Lee Cheng Feng, one of the co-accused; and PW7 – Station Inspector Lee Jansen, the investigation officer.

I also noted that the Prosecution had listed 3 other witnesses, namely Cyrus Casper Francis (“Cyrus”), Brandon Gan (“Brandon”) and Alvin Raj Aloysious Conzaga (“Alvin”) in their List of Witness which was tendered in court but they had decided not to call these witnesses and they had offered these 3 witnesses to the Defence.

In addition to the 7 witnesses, the Prosecution had also tendered 7 exhibits in support of their case against the Accused: Exhibit P1 – the First Information Report bearing no. A/201703251/0054; Exhibit P2 – the Medical Report on PW3 dated 21 July 2017 prepared by Dr Andrew Yam, a specialist hand surgeon; Exhibit P3 – the CCTV footage from Singapore Land Towers (taken from outside the glass door); Exhibit P4 – the Medical Report on PW1 dated 3 May 2017 prepared by PW2; Exhibit P5 – the Medical Report on PW3 dated 3 May 2017 prepared by PW2; Exhibit P6 – a sketch plan of the scene prepared by PW7, the investigation officer; and Exhibit P7 – 7 photographs of Singapore Land Tower taken by PW7, the investigation officer.

The Prosecution’s evidence could be summarised as follows: -

PW1 – Tan Rong Sheng Royson

PW1 was a bank manager by profession and he worked for State Street Bank¹. On 25 March 2017, PW1 had gone to a club known as Skyline at Singapore Land Tower for a farewell celebration of a colleague who was leaving the bank. There were 8 persons in the group including PW3 who was then PW1’s girlfriend². The other members of the group who went to Skyline club included Matthew French, Carles Kruse, Jermaine Cheong, Justina Ng³, PW4 and PW5. Except for PW3, the rest of the group were PW1’s colleagues from the bank⁴.

While the group was at Skyline club, PW1 had bumped into a guy, who was later identified as Brandon, who was one of the co-accused⁵. PW1 had bumped into Brandon when Brandon was passing by PW1’s table. Brandon had reacted aggressively, and he shoved PW1 causing PW1 to fly across the room⁶. When that happened, PW1’s friends and some club employees intervened. They separated the 2 of them and made them shake hands and make peace⁷.

PW1 also testified that after the incident, he was informed by some friends and employees of the club that after Brandon had shoved him, Brandon had also taken a metal ice scoop from an ice bucket and he wanted to continue charging at PW1 with the metal ice scoop⁸. PW1 testified that when he was involved in the shoving incident with Brandon at Skyline club, he did not know if Brandon was an employee or customer of Skyline club⁹. PW1 subsequently found out that Brandon was working for Skyline club¹⁰.

PW1 was unhappy about the incident and he went to his friend Mano who was the manager and co-owner of Skyline club and informed Mano of what had happened¹¹. Mano then requested a club employee to bring Brandon to see both of them. When Brandon met up with Mano and PW1, Mano yelled angrily at Brandon and told him to leave the club. Brandon responded angrily with vulgarities and stormed out of the club¹². After that, PW1 remained at the club and continued drinking with his friends¹³.

Later that night, after PW1 had left Skyline club with PW3, he was confronted by a group of more than 5 people at the lobby of Singapore Land Tower. PW1 and PW3 were at the lobby of Singapore Land Tower when they saw a group of people approaching them and shouting at them¹⁴. The group of people shouted vulgarities at PW1 and PW3¹⁵. PW1 also confirmed that the group which had initially approached him and PW3 consisted of Brandon, Steven Guo Shengzhong (“Steven”), Nelson Lee Cheng Feng (“Nelson”), Cyrus and Alvin (collectively called “the group of 5”)) and an unknown woman¹⁶. Brandon, Steven, Nelson, Cyrus and Alvin were the co-accused in this case.

When the group of 5 first approached PW1 and PW3, both PW1 and PW3 were confused as they did not recognise the group¹⁷. However, when the group of 5 confronted them, PW1 recognised Brandon as the person with whom he had an incident at Skyline club earlier and he realised what was happening¹⁸. Cyrus then shoved and pointed at PW1¹⁹. PW3 tried to defend PW1 by pushing the group of 5 back²⁰. Shortly after that, PW1 was punched in the face²¹.

After PW1 was punched in the face, he immediately covered his head to protect himself²². However, he was continuously punched multiple times²³. PW1 was not able to tell exactly who had punched him²⁴. During this time, PW1 had tried to block off the punches from his assailants and he also tried to pull himself away from the group of 5²⁵. PW3 tried to defend them and she tried to fight off the group of 5 and block them from PW1²⁶. PW1’s instinct was to defend himself and run away given that he was outnumbered by the group of 5²⁷. So, he struggled to break free from the group of 5²⁸. PW1 said that he did manage to shake off the group of 5 and he saw an opening and tried to pull himself from the group of 5 and run away from the group of 5²⁹. However, as he was running away from the group of 5, he felt someone grabbed him around the waist from behind and preventing him from getting away³⁰. When PW1 was struggling to get away, he was not aware of what had happened to PW3³¹.

PW1 testified that at the time of the incident, he did not know who had assaulted him. However, he was able to identify 2 of his assailants. One was the Accused³². The other was Brandon, whom PW1 had a shoving incident earlier at Skyline club³³.

PW1 also testified that the Accused was not part of the group of 5 who had assaulted him and PW3 initially. PW1 said that the Accused was following the group of 5 and he “looked like he was bracing himself for something”³⁴. PW1 also testified that the Accused did not hit him ³⁵. PW1 also confirmed that before he was assaulted by the group of 5, he did not have any interaction or altercation with any of the group of 5 except for Brandon³⁶.

When PW1 was struggling to break away from the group of 5, he felt someone holding him by the waist and he eventually fell to the ground. PW1 testified that he was charging ahead to get away from the group and when he realised, he could not move forward. PW1 then turned around and he saw that the Accused was holding onto him³⁷. PW1 saw the Accused hugging him from the back around his waist³⁸. The Accused had grabbed PW1 from the waist from the back³⁹. Another co-accused, Lee Yi Yang, Dean (“DW2”) also restrained PW1’s neck as he was trying to run away from the group⁴⁰. After PW1 had fallen to the ground, the rest of the group of 5 caught up with him and they continued to punch and kick him⁴¹. PW1 had testified that he was not able to break away from the group because he was grabbed around the waist by the Accused⁴². The Accused had grabbed PW1’s waist and DW2 had restrained his neck to prevent him from running away⁴³. PW1 testified that he was planning to run away from the group of 5 when he was grabbed by the Accused and DW2⁴⁴. PW1 was of the view that the Accused had grabbed him from behind to prevent him from running away and that both the Accused and DW2 had used a great deal of force in doing so⁴⁵. PW1 also testified that he could have run away from the group of 5 if he was not grabbed in the waist by the Accused⁴⁶.

PW1 also testified that when he was able to run away, the group of 5 had stopped assaulting him and were not actively pursuing him⁴⁷. This was until the Accused grabbed him from behind and had caused him to fall to the ground⁴⁸. PW1 had only managed to run for less than 5 metres before he fell to the ground with the Accused grabbing him⁴⁹. After that, the group of 5 caught up with PW1 and they continued to punch and kick him until he fell to the ground⁵⁰. PW1 also testified that the Accused was still holding onto him when the rest of the group caught up with them and the Accused then released PW1 with the group of 5 jumping in and hitting him⁵¹.

When PW1 fell onto the floor, he was kicked and punched in the head⁵². Steven also pulled his shirt⁵³. PW1 did not know what the Accused was...