Public Prosecutor v Mohamed Hashim

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Chay Yuen Fatt
• Judgment Date: 06 March 2004
• Neutral Citation: [2004] SGDC 58
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Published date: 24 March 2004
• Year: 2004
• Plaintiff Counsel: ASP Shabbir Yusuf
• Defendant Counsel: Accused in person
• Citation: [2004] SGDC 58

6 March, 2004

District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt:

The Charges

The accused pleaded guilty to the following three charges of harbouring immigration offenders:

DAC 8321/04

“..you, between September 2003 and 10 December 2003, at Blk 823 Jurong West St 81 #04-468, Singapore, did harbour one Yue Jin Feng, F/35 yrs, Passport no.G02017465, a PRC national, whom you had reasonable grounds for believing to be a person who has acted in contravention of section 15(3) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 133, by remaining in Singapore after the expiry of the social visit pass, on 26 April 2002, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 57(1)(d) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 133, punishable under Section 57(1)(ii) of the said Act;”

DAC 8322/04

“..you, between 20 November 2003 and 10 December 2003, at Blk 823 Jurong West St 81 #04-468, Singapore, did harbour one Pan Xiu Ying, F/40 yrs, Passport no.G05936022, a PRC national, whom you had reasonable grounds for believing to be a person who has acted in contravention of section 15(3) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 133, by remaining in Singapore after the expiry of the social visit pass, on 4 February 2003, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 57(1)(d) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 133, punishable under Section 57(1)(ii) of the said Act;” and

DAC 8576/04

“..you, between 16 September 2003 and 10 December 2003, at Blk 823 Jurong West St 81 #04-468, Singapore, did harbour one Bao Ying, F/35 yrs, Passport no.G02574780, a PRC national, whom you had reasonable grounds for believing to be a person who has acted in contravention of section 15(3) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 133, by remaining in Singapore after the expiry of the social visit pass, on 13 February 2002, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 57(1)(d) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 133, punishable under Section 57(1)(ii) of the said Act.”

2. In addition, the accused admitted to two other similar charges (DAC 8319-20/04) for harbouring immigration offenders at the same premises. He consented for these charges to be taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.

The Sentence

3. The accused was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for each charge. The sentences in respect of the charges in DAC 8321/04 and DAC 8322/04 were ordered to run consectively making it a total of 30 months’ imprisonment. The accused has lodged this appeal against the said sentence.

The Facts

4. The accused admitted the prosecution’s statement of facts which revealed that on the day in question, a group of police and immigration officers paid a visit to the accused’s residence as stated in the charges and detained three Chinese nationals.

5. These Chinese nationals were established to be immigration offenders having overstayed their social visit passes for varying periods as stated in the respective charges.

6. Investigations further revealed that after their social visit passes had expired, the three of them had rented a room from the accused and paid a monthly rental of $150 to the accused. The accused did not request to check their identification or travel documents in order to verify their immigration status in Singapore. He was thus charged with harbouring these immigration offenders.

Prior Criminal Record

7. The accused has a prior conviction for the very same offence of...