Public Prosecutor v Lim Ah Seng

• Judge: Sundaresh Menon JC
• Judgment Date: 26 March 2007
• Neutral Citation: [2007] SGHC 40
• Citation: [2007] SGHC 40
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Published date: 09 July 2007
• Plaintiff Counsel: Edwin San and Jason Chan (Deputy Public Prosecutors)
• Defendant Counsel: Subhas Anandan and Sunil Sudheesan (Harry Elias Partnership)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Procedure and Sentencing,Sentencing,Principles,Accused strangling wife during fight,Accused victim of repeated physical and psychological abuse from wife,Accused pleading guilty to culpable homicide not amounting to murder,Accused suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome,Appropriate sentence,Section 304(b) Penal Code (Cap 224, 1985 Rev Ed)

26 March 2007 Judgment reserved

Sundaresh Menon JC:

1 Every killing is utterly tragic; but this does not mean that every killer is to be punished in the same way. The law recognises this and it is reflected in the various defences available to a murder charge and in the highly differentiated scheme of sentencing prescribed for a range of offences from a mandatory death penalty for intentional killing to a maximum term of imprisonment of two years for causing death by rash or negligent acts. In the context of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the circumstances of each killing may be so varied that any attempt to prescribe the precise sentence in vacuo would be futile. Even with a growing body of case law that provides much useful guidance, sentencing calls for the sound exercise of judicial discretion, taking into account the specific factual complexion of each case, including the ambient circumstances of the offence and the offender. I can do no better than to recall what was said by V K Rajah J in Angliss Singapore Pte Ltd v PP [2006] 4 SLR 653 (“Angliss”) at [24]:

… [A] sentencing judge should not hide behind the veneer of platitudes as an expedient substitute for the scrupulous and assiduous assessment of the factual matrix of each case in determining the appropriate sentence.

2 So it is with the case before me. One Lim Ah Seng (“Lim”), 37 years of age at the time of the incident has pleaded guilty before me to a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under s 304(b) of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 1985 Rev Ed) (“the Code”). I have the task of sentencing him. The law provides that the offence is punishable with a term of imprisonment which may extend to 10 years, or with a fine, or with both.

The procedural history

3 It is appropriate first to outline the procedural history of this case. On 7 July 2006, Lim pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under s 304(b) of the Code for causing the death of his wife, Madam Riana Agustina (“the deceased”), by strangling her with the knowledge that it was likely to cause her death. Upon accepting Lim’s plea of guilt, I sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of 2 years and 6 months, with effect from 25 October 2005 (“the first judgment”). The plea of guilt, and my determination of the appropriate sentence, were based on a statement of facts agreed upon by both the prosecution and the defence (“the SOF”), the details of which were narrated in my grounds of decision: see PP v Lim Ah Seng [2006] SGHC 122 (“the GD”) at [5] to [15]. For the sake of context, it may be noted that in sentencing Lim, I had considered that the SOF revealed that:

(a) Lim was a victim of repeated and sustained physical and psychological abuse since 2003, so much so that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result;

(b) No weapon was used in the commission of the offence;

(c) It was the deceased who had instigated the fight on that fateful night;

(d) Lim had shown remorse in his unconditional plea of guilt and his full co-operation with the authorities;

(e) Lim had no antecedents and had, apart from this incident, shown considerable restraint in the face of the deceased’s abuse; and

(f) There was no real likelihood of recurrence.

4 The prosecution was dissatisfied with the sentence I had passed and filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal. On 12 October 2006, the Court of Appeal heard the appeal. It expressed certain misgivings in relation to whether the SOF fairly and accurately represented the nature of the relationship between Lim and the deceased, and what had transpired between them on the night of the deceased’s death. More specifically, the Court of Appeal was concerned that the external and internal injuries apparently sustained by the deceased called for further investigation to consider whether Lim might have aggressively attacked the deceased. This could alter the complexion of the case at least in so far as a wholly disproportionate response to any instigation or aggression might constitute an aggravating factor: see PP v Michael McCrea [2006] 3 SLR 677 at [15]. More fundamentally, it threw into question two important premises in the SOF, viz., that Lim’s act of strangling the deceased was done in response to the latter’s own aggression and that Lim was the victim in an abusive relationship with the deceased. Of course, the fact that Lim may have inflicted serious injuries on the deceased may itself have been inconclusive but it would have had to be taken into account together with the other circumstances of the case for the purpose of sentencing. The Court of Appeal was also concerned whether some of the statements contained in the SOF had been verified by objective evidence. There is much to be said for the prosecution relying on objective evidence as much as possible and even in the context of a case proceeding on the basis of an agreed statement of facts, it is probably useful for the prosecution to have available the key objective evidence upon which the facts were agreed.

5 In any event, the first judgment was set aside by the Court of Appeal and the case was remitted to me in order that further evidence could be received in relation to the matters raised by the Court of Appeal.

6 Pursuant to my directions, the prosecution and the defence agreed upon a list of the matters that the Court of Appeal had raised on 12 October 2006, and in respect of which the further evidence that was to be tendered before me. This list was as follows:

(a) A further report by a forensic pathologist on the injuries found on the deceased;

(b) Reports from the Health Sciences Authority (“HSA”), including that relating to the vaginal swabs taken from the deceased;

(c) Evidence of Lim’s loss of hearing and which was said to have been caused by the deceased;

(d) Evidence in respect of the relationship between Lim and the deceased; and

(e) A psychiatric report on Lim’s current mental condition and the period of supervision that he will require.

7 It turned out that the further evidence led by the prosecution corroborated and in some respects reinforced the narration of facts in the SOF as was confirmed by the learned deputy public prosecutor, Mr Edwin San. It followed that the statement of facts tendered by the prosecution and on which Lim pleaded guilty for a second time when the case came before me on 9 March 2007 was identical to the first SOF.

The undisputed background facts and the SOF

8 I begin by highlighting some of the salient facts before considering the further evidence. Lim and the deceased were married in 1998 and had two children. For the first five years of their marriage, no instance of violence by either party was reported. It was only in 2003 or 2004 that the deceased began to get abusive and physically lashed out at Lim and their children. It was suggested that Lim had become partially deaf in one ear, as a result of these beatings. These incidents of abuse eventually led Lim to enlist the help of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (“the MCYS”), and in November 2004, an official request for help was lodged. Subsequently, the deceased was brought to a shelter but she left sometime in June or July 2005.

9 The SOF then picks up the factual thread a few months later, on 25 October 2006. On that day, at about 6 pm, Lim received a call from the deceased who told him that she wanted to visit his mother’s home to see their six-year-old daughter, Angel. Lim told her to go there on her own. About an hour later, Lim returned home to shower. Just as he was about to leave for dinner, the deceased turned up at the flat and told him that she came to see him because she did not have the keys to his mother’s house.

10 The deceased then informed Lim that she wanted to bring Angel to Jakarta. When Lim protested, the deceased raised her voice. They quarrelled for some time. The deceased then asked the accused whether he wanted to make love to her because they had not seen each other for some time. Lim agreed.

11 Having had sexual intercourse, the deceased went to wash herself. Upon returning to the master bedroom where Lim was, the deceased again raised the issue of bringing Angel to Jakarta. When Lim refused the second time, the deceased warned Lim that she would report him to the police for rape if he persisted in his objection.

12 A quarrel ensued, and the deceased slapped the accused and told him that because she had a record with the Institute of Mental Health (“the IMH”), it would be all right for her to kill him. She rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, but was stopped by Lim. Lim then followed the deceased into the master bedroom to prevent her from throwing things around, which, it seemed, was what she usually did during such arguments.

13 The quarrel became more intense. The deceased slapped Lim again and then strangled him by squeezing his throat and neck. The accused felt pain and responded by squeezing the deceased’s throat and neck. It was only after a while, when he realised that her grip on his neck had loosened, that he released his own grip. She fell down and was motionless. Lim called out to her and tried to revive her, but to no avail.

14 The next thing Lim did was to call his mother and inform her that the deceased had come to his flat to create trouble and wanted to bring Angel to Jakarta.

15 At approximately 9.24 pm, police officers and officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force arrived at the scene and saw Lim sitting shirtless in the living room of his residence. Lim went into the kitchen and came back with two knives and he stabbed himself in the thighs. He refused entry to the officers and threatened suicide. It was only after officers from the Police Crisis Negotiation Unit were called in that Lim was eventually persuaded to surrender to the police.

16 The deceased was found lying motionless on the floor of the bedroom and was pronounced dead at 12.42 am on 26...