Public Prosecutor v Ling Ah Poi alias Chen Yi Chai
| Jurisdiction | Singapore |
| Judge | Wong Choon Ning |
| Judgment Date | 28 December 2005 |
| Neutral Citation | [2005] SGDC 265 |
| Plaintiff Counsel | Toh Shin Hao (Deputy Public Prosecutor) |
| Published date | 02 February 2006 |
| Court | District Court (Singapore) |
| Defendant Counsel | Accused in person |
| Subject Matter | Criminal Law,Offences,Public decency and morals,Having possession of obscene paper,Accused possessing obscene inlays of DVDs and VCDs,Sentence,Section 292(a) Penal Code (Cap 224, 1985 Rev Ed),Statutory offences,Films Act,Having possession of film without valid certificate of Board of Film Censors approving exhibition of film,Sections 21(1)(a), 21(1)(i) Films Act (Cap 107, 1998 Rev Ed),Having possession of obscene film,Section 30(1) Films Act (Cap 107, 1998 Rev Ed),Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act,Having possession of anything which may be reasonably suspected of being stolen or fraudulently obtained and failing to account satisfactorily how one has came by the same,Accused possessing Singapore international passport in another person's name and failing to account satisfactorily as to how she came by it,Section 35(1) Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act (Cap 184, 1997 Rev Ed),Evidence,Witnesses,Corroboration,Whether accused's lies corroborative evidence of her guilt,Revenue Law,Customs and excise,Uncustomed goods,Having possession of uncustomed goods,Accused possessing assorted brands of cigarettes upon which excise duty not paid,Sections 130(1)(c), 130(1)(iii) Customs Act (Cap 70, 2004 Rev Ed),Goods and services tax (gst),Accused possessing assorted brands of cigarettes, audio CDs, DVDs and VCDs upon which goods and services tax not paid,Sections 130(1)(c), 130(1)(iii) Customs Act (Cap 70, 2004 Rev Ed); ss 26, 77 Goods and Services Tax Act (Cap 117A, 2005 Rev Ed); para 3 Goods and Services Tax (Application of Legislation Relating to Customs and Excise Duties) Order (Cap 117A, O 4, 2001 Rev Ed); para 2 Goods and Services (Application of Customs Act) (Provisions on Trials, Proceedings, Offences and Penalties) Order (Cap 117A, O 5, 2001 Rev Ed) |
| 28 December 2005 |
Judgment reserved. |
District Judge Wong Choon Ning:
1 The accused was convicted after a trial on the following eight charges :-
MAC 3426/2005 (Exh. A)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have in your possession 259 DVDs containing 259 films and 2,328 video CDs containing 1211 films, without a valid certificate of the Board of Film Censors, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 21(1)(a) of the Films Act (Cap 107) and punishable under section 21(1)(i) of the Films Act (Cap 107).”
MAC 3427/2005 (Exh. B)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have in your possession 8 DVDs containing 8 films and 297 video CDs containing 171 films, which are obscene, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 30(1) of the Films Act (Cap 107).”
MAC 3428/2005 (Exh. C)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have in your possession 75 DVDs (with 75 obscene inlays) containing 75 films and 593 video CDs (with 593 obscene inlays) containing 593 films, and having reasonable cause to believe the said films to be obscene, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 30(2)(a) of the Films Act (Cap 107),
AND FURTHER, that you, before the commission of the said offence, that is to say, on the 27th day of December 2001, had been convicted by Court 40 of the Subordinate Courts, Singapore, of an offence of Possession of Obscene Film under section 30(2)(a) of the Films Act (Cap 107), which conviction has not been set aside, and that you are thereby liable to enhanced punishment under section 30(2)b) of the Films Act (Cap 107).”
MAC 3429/2005 (Exh. D)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have in your possession obscene papers, that is to say, 668 obscene inlays and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 292(a) of the Penal code (Cap 224).”
DAC 29037/2005 (Exh. E)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have the following items in your possession
One Singapore International Passport bearing number S0909259E in
the name of “Leo Dai Meng”
which may be reasonably suspected of being stolen or fraudulently obtained and for which you failed to account satisfactorily as to how you came by the same, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under section 35(1) of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act (Cap 184).”
DAC 32212/2005 (Exh. F)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have in your possession uncustomed goods, to wit, 104 cartons x 200 sticks and 49 packets x 20 sticks of assorted brands of duty unpaid cigarettes, weighing 21.78 kilogrammes altogether and on which Excise Duty of $7,666,56 was not paid, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 130(1)(c) of the Customs Act (Cap 70) punishable under Section 130(1)(iii) of the Customs Act (Cap 70).”
DAC 32213/2005 (Exh. G)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have in your possession uncustomed goods, to wit, 104 cartons x 200 sticks and 49 packets x 20 sticks of assorted brands of duty unpaid cigarettes, weighing 21.78 kilogrammes altogether and valued at $9,801.00 and on which the Goods and Services Tax of $490.05 was not paid, and you have thereby, by virtue of Sections 26 and 77 of the Goods and Services Tax Act (Cap 117A), paragraph 3 of the Goods and Services Tax (Application of Legislation Relating to Customs and Excise Duties) Order (Cap 117A, Order 4) and paragraph 2 of the Goods and Services (Application of Customs Act) Provisions on Trials, Proceedings, Offences and Penalties) Order (Cap 117A, Order 5), committed an offence under section 130(1)(c) of the Customs Act (Cap 70) punishable under Section 130(1)(iii) of the same Act.”
DAC 32214/2005 (Exh. H)
“You,
LING AH POI @ CHEN YI CHAI, F/46
PASSPORT NO : UNKNOWN
FIN NO : G9011959T
CHINESE NATIONAL
are charged that you on the 27th day of June 2005 at or about 11.55 pm, in a room on the 2nd level of Blk 148 Potong Pasir Avenue 1 #01-55, Singapore, did have in your possession uncustomed goods, to wit, 259 pieces of Digital Video Discs (DVDs), 423 pieces of Audio Compact Discs (CDs) and 2,328 pieces of Video Compact Discs (VCDs), valued at $3,357.50 and on which the Goods and Services Tax of $167.88 was not paid, and you have thereby, by virtue of sections 26 and 77 of the Goods and Services Tax Act (Cap 117A), paragraph 3 of the Goods and Services Tax (Application of Legislation Relating to Customs and Excise Duties) Order (Cap 117A, Order 4) and paragraph 2 of the Goods and Services (Application of Customs Act) Provisions on Trials, Proceedings, Offences and Penalties) Order (Cap 117A, Order 5), committed an offence under section 130(1)(c) of the Customs Act (Cap 70) punishable under Section 130(1)(iii) of the Customs Act (Cap 70).”
2 For the eight charges, the accused was sentenced to a total of 14 months’ imprisonment and a total fine of $22,518.20 or, in default of payment, 4 months’ and two weeks’ imprisonment. As the fines were not paid, the accused would serve a total sentence of 18 months’ and 2 weeks’ imprisonment, which sentence would take effect upon the expiry of the sentence imposed on her in an earlier case on 1 Sept 05.
3 The defence is dissatisfied with the orders of conviction and sentence on the eight charges and now appeals against them. The accused is currently serving sentence for her earlier case and has not commenced serving the sentence imposed in the present case.
Prosecution’s case
4 The prosecution called a total of twenty witnesses. Evidence was adduced to show how, during a police raid for an unrelated criminal case, uncensored and obscene films as well as duty unpaid cigarettes and audio CDs were found in the accused’s rented room. The accused’s landlady and neighbours were called to testify that, at all material times, the accused was the sole tenant and occupant of her room and that, apart from the landlady, only the accused held the key to the room. An accomplice of the accused further gave evidence to show that the accused had been dealing in uncensored and obscene films.
Evidence with regards to the accused’s arrest
5 On 27 Jun 05, at about 11 pm, Insp Johnny Koh Eng Tuck (PW 9) (hereinafter referred to “Insp Johnny Koh”) led a party of police officers to conduct a raid at Blk 148, Potong Pasir, #01-55 (hereinafter referred to as “the unit”). Together with the police officers was one Huang Qiao Zhu (PW 8) who was a potential witness or defendant in an extortion case. The police officers were then escorting Huang Qiao Zhu to conduct a raid on her rented room in the said unit.
6 The said unit was a two-storey shophouse in a HDB block, where the first level was the premises of a hair-dressing saloon. The second level was the residential area comprising three bedrooms and a kitchen. At the material time, Huang Qiao Zhu was staying in one of the three bedrooms on the second level.
7 Since the hair-dressing salon had closed, the only entry into the unit was through the rear. As the party of police officers and Huang Qiao Zhu approached the back door of the unit, they saw one Ng Cheng Kee (PW 17) come out of the unit. At the same time, one of the police officers, Staff Sergeant Goh Han Wei Jeremy (PW 4) (hereinafter referred to as “S/Sgt Jeremy Goh”), further noticed the accused closing back the metal gate and the back door from within the unit.[note: 1]
8 Ng Cheng Kee was then carrying a few red-coloured plastic bags. He walked towards a taxi and placed the plastic bags in the boot of the taxi. Before he could board the taxi, however, the party of police officers moved in to conduct a check on him. When questioned as to the contents of the red plastic bags, Ng Cheng Kee confessed that they contained pirated VCDs. The police officers opened up a few of the plastic bags and found them to contain smaller black-coloured plastic bags which in turn contained VCDs. Some of the VCDs also had obscene inlays.
9 When questioned further by the police as to where he had got the VCDs, Ng Cheng Kee pointed to the unit and said that he had just obtained them from a lady residing in the unit. When asked for the name of the person from whom he had got the VCDs, Ng Cheng Kee gave the name, “Ah Ling”.[note: 2]
10 Thereafter, Ng Cheng Kee was placed under arrest and escorted to the police van. S/Sgt Jeremy Goh and Senior Staff Sergeant Dzulkifli Jumari (PW 10) (hereinafter referred to as “S/S/Sgt Dzulkifli”) remained in the police van to guard Ng Cheng Kee whilst the rest of the police party and Huang Qiao Zhu proceeded to enter the...
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